Joe Davis

Joe Davis

Born	15 April 1901 Whitwell, Derbyshire
Died	10 July 1978 (aged 77) Hampshire
Sport country	England
Professional	1919–1964
Highest break	147 (1955)
Century breaks	687
Tournament wins
Major	22
World Champion	1927–1940, 1946

Joe Davis, OBE (born 15 April 1901 in Whitwell, Derbyshire, England; died 10 July 1978 in Hampshire) was a British professional player of snooker and English billiards.
Joe Davis became a professional billiards player at the age of 18, having won the Chesterfield Championship at age 13. In 1926 he reached his first World Professional Billiards Championship final but was unsuccessful against defending champion Tom Newman. He reached the final again the following year and was runner-up again to the same opponent. It was to be a case of third time lucky for Davis when he defeated Newman in 1928 to become the world champion at English billiards for the first time. He would defend his title for the next three years – against Newman again in 1929 and 1930 and New Zealander Clark McConachy in 1932. He contested the final two more times in 1933 and 1934 losing on both occasions to Australian Walter Lindrum.
Coinciding with his peak as a billiards player, Davis's interests shifted to snooker and he helped to organise the first snooker world championship in 1927 and won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis 20–10, for which he won UK£6 10s. He went on to win the world championship every year until 1940. Joe's brother Fred, twelve years his junior, was also a snooker player and multiple World Champion. When Joe met Fred in the world championship final of 1940, Joe won 37–36.
Following the outbreak of World War II the world championship was not held for the next five years. On resumption in 1946, Davis defended his title making it his 15th consecutive win and thereby holding the title for 20 straight years. To date, he has won more world championships than any other player. He retired from the event following this victory making him the only undefeated player in the history of the world championships.
Davis proved he was still the man to beat up to the 1950s by winning the News of the World Championship on three occasions during the decade. His nearest rivals were his brother, Fred, and future world champion John Pulman who each both won it on two occasions. He made history in 1955 by achieving the first officially recognised maximum break of 147 in snooker in an exhibition match at Leicester Square Hall, the country's mecca for billiards enthusiasts. He had previously made the game's first century break in 1930. Also during the decade Davis attempted to popularise a new game called snooker plus. This game had two extra colour balls, an orange and a purple, but it never took off. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1963. He continued to play professionally until 1964.
Davis died two months after collapsing while watching his brother play Perrie Mans in the 1978 World Snooker Championship semi-final. His home, in Whitwell, Derbyshire bears a plaque commemorating him.

Tournament wins

• World Championship – 1927–1940, 1946
• Daily Mail Gold Cup – 1936/37, 1937/38
• Sunday Empire News Tournament – 1948/49
• News of the World Championship – 1950, 1953, 1956
• Sporting Record – 1950/51

English billiards

• World Championship – 1928–1930, 1932

Payne Stewart

Payne Stewart
Personal information
Full name	William Payne Stewart
Born	January 30, 1957 Springfield, Missouri
Died	October 25, 1999 (aged 42) Mina, South Dakota
Nationality	United States
Career
College	Southern Methodist University
Turned professional	1982
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	24
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	11
Other	13
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 3)
Masters Tournament	T8: 1986
U.S. Open	Won 1991, 1999
The Open Championship	2nd/T2: 1985, 1990
PGA Championship	Won 1989
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2001
Byron Nelson Award	1989

William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42.
Stewart was born in Springfield, Missouri, and attended Greenwood Laboratory School, a K-12 school, on the campus of Missouri State University. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He was always popular with fans, especially for his clothing, and was reputed to have the biggest wardrobe of all professional golfers. He was a favorite of photographers because of his ivy caps and patterned pants, which were a cross between plus fours and knickerbockers, a throwback to the once-commonplace golfing "uniform."

Career

Stewart failed to earn a PGA Tour card at Qualifying School in his graduation year, so he played on the Asian Tour for a couple of years, winning twice. He finally earned his PGA Tour card in 1982 and won his first event on the tour at that year's Quad Cities Open. This win was especially memorable to him because it was the only time his father saw him win. He won eleven Tour events, including the 1989 PGA Championship and the U.S. Open in 1991 and 1999. He was a two-time winner of the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco. At the time of his death, he was ranked third on the all-time money list and in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings—he had been ranked in the top 10 for almost 250 weeks, from 1986 to 1993 and again in 1999. At a time of international domination of the golf scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was often the highest-ranked American player.
Stewart represented the United States on five Ryder Cup teams (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1999) and was known for his patriotic passion for the event, once saying of his European opponents, "On paper, they should be caddying for us." The United States team were 3–1–1 during the 5 times he played. He was disappointed to miss out in 1995 and 1997 when he failed to qualify automatically and wasn't chosen as a captain's pick. Stewart also played for the U.S. on three World Cup teams.

Statue commemorating Stewart's win in the 1999 U.S. Open

Stewart appeared on episode number 169/7.18 of the hit sitcom Home Improvement titled "Futile Attraction", which aired on March 10, 1998 and featured Stewart as himself.

Death

Main article: 1999 South Dakota Learjet crash

On October 25, 1999, a month after the American team rallied to win the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts, and four months after his U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst No. 2, Stewart was killed in the depressurization of a Learjet flying from Orlando to Dallas, Texas for the year-ending tournament, The Tour Championship, held at Champions Golf Club in Houston that year. Stewart was planning to stop off in Dallas to discuss building a new home course for the SMU golf program. The last communication received from the pilots was at 9:27 AM EDT, and the plane made a right turn at 9:30 AM EDT that was probably the result of human input. At 9:33 AM EDT the pilots did not respond to a call to change radio frequencies, and there was no further contact from the plane. The plane, apparently still on autopilot and angled off-course, was observed by several U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft as it continued its flight over the southern and midwestern United States. The military pilots observed frost or condensation on the windshield (consistent with loss of cabin pressure) which obscured the cockpit, and no motion was visible through the small patch of windshield that was clear.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators concluded that the plane suffered a loss of cabin pressure and that all on board died of hypoxia. A delay of only a few seconds in donning oxygen masks, coupled with cognitive and motor skill impairment, could have been enough to result in the pilots' incapacitation. The NTSB report showed that the plane had several instances of maintenance work related to cabin pressure in the months leading up to the accident. The NTSB was unable to determine whether they stemmed from a common problem – replacements and repairs were documented, but not the pilot discrepancy reports that prompted them or the frequency of such reports. The report gently chides Sunjet Aviation for the possibility that this would have made the problem harder to identify, track, and resolve; as well as the fact that in at least one instance the plane was flown with an unauthorized maintenance deferral for cabin pressure problems.
According to an Air Force timeline, a series of military planes provided an emergency escort to the stricken Lear, beginning with an F-16 from Eglin Air Force Base, about an hour and twenty minutes (9:33 EDT to 9:52 CDT – see NTSB report on the crash) after ground controllers lost contact. The plane continued flying until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, South Dakota, a town ten miles (16 km) west of Aberdeen, South Dakota after an uncontrolled descent. The five other people aboard the plane included Stewart's agents Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, and pilots Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, along with Bruce Borland, a highly-regarded golf architect with the Jack Nicklaus golf course design company.
At the time of his death, Stewart had won $12,673,193 in career earnings.
At that year's Tour Championship, Stewart's good friend Stuart Appleby organized a tribute to his friend. With Stewart's wife's permission, he wore one of Payne's own signature outfits for the final round of the tournament, and most of the rest of the golfers in the field wore "short pants" that day as well.
One year after Stewart's death, his widow Tracey and their two children, as well as the family of Stewart's agent Robert Fraley who also died on that flight, brought a lawsuit seeking $200,000,000 in damages against the Learjet's operator SunJet Aviation Inc and owner JetShares One Inc. The case against Learjet was brought to trial in State Court in Orlando, Florida where in June 2005 jurors found that the plane's manufacturer, Learjet, had no liability in the deaths of Stewart and Fraley due to negligence in the design or manufacture of the plane.
The segment of Interstate 44 passing through Springfield, Missouri was designated the Payne Stewart Memorial Highway in his memory. He also has a street in Fullerton, California named after him. There is also a "Payne Stewart Drive" in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada named after him, leading into Northview golf course designed by Arnold Palmer. Finally, Payne Stewart Drive in Jacksonville, Florida houses The First Tee along with a Job Corps Center.
The communities of Mina and Aberdeen created their own memorial. Jon Hoffman, owner of the property where the plane crashed, contacted Stewart's widow Tracey and several family members of other crash victims; all agreed that the memorial would be a rock pulled from the crash site, engraved with the victims' names and a Bible passage. Hoffman fenced in about an acre (4,000 m²) of the property surrounding the memorial.
In 2000, the PGA Tour established the Payne Stewart Award, given each year to a player who shows respect for the traditions of the game, commitment to uphold the game's heritage of charitable support and professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.
In tribute to Stewart, as well as his southwestern Missouri roots, the Payne Stewart Golf Club was opened in Branson, Missouri in June 2009 with the approval of Stewart's wife, Tracey.
Ground-breaking on the $31 million layout took place on July 24, 2006. The 7,319 yard 18-hole course was designed by Bobby Clampett and Chuck Smith. Each hole on the course is named for some aspect or notable moment in Stewart's life. For example, the fifth hole, named "Road Hole", recounts the incredible par Stewart made in the first round of the 1990 Open Championship at Old Course at St Andrews when he was forced to knock his third shot against the wall behind the green at the Old Course's treacherous 17th. His ball finished just on the back fringe from where he chipped in.
On October 25, 2009, exactly 10 years after the death of Payne Stewart, the Golf Channel broadcast a special presentation to remember the life of the late golfer. The program included taped interviews with family and friends and old videos of past golf events that included Payne.
Payne's son, Aaron, joined the Southern Methodist University golf team.

Bobby Moore

Bobby Moore

Personal information
Full name	Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore
Date of birth	12 April 1941
Place of birth	Barking, Essex, England
Date of death	24 February 1993 (aged 51)
Place of death	London, England
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1958–1974	West Ham United	544	(24)
1974–1977	Fulham	124	(1)
1976	San Antonio Thunder	24	(1)
1978	Seattle Sounders	7	(0)
1978	Herning Fremad	9	(0)
Total		708	(26)
National team
1962–1973	England	108	(2)
Teams managed
1980	Oxford City
1981–1982	Eastern AA
1984–1986	Southend United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Robert Frederick Chelsea "Bobby" Moore, OBE (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years and was captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of world football, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.
He won a total of 108 caps for the England team, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by 125-cap goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for outfield players until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. However, unlike Beckham, Moore played every minute of every one of his caps.

Football career

Moore attended Westbury Primary School and Tom Hood School, Leyton. He played for both schools.

Moore joined West Ham United as a player in 1956, and after advancing through their youth set-up and played his first game on 8 September 1958 against Manchester United. In putting on the number six shirt, he replaced his mentor Malcolm Allison, who was suffering from tuberculosis.
Allison never played another first team game for West Ham nor indeed any other First Division game, as Moore became a regular. A composed central defender, Moore was admired for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Indeed, Moore's ability to head the ball or keep up with the pace was average at best, but the way he read the game, marshalled his team and timed his tackles marked him out as world class.
Bobby Moore also played county cricket for the Essex youth team alongside fellow West Ham player Geoff Hurst.

An England star, a European winner

In 1960, Moore earned a call up to the England Under-23 squad. His form and impact on West Ham as a whole earned him a late call-up to the full England squad by Walter Winterbottom and the Football Association selection committee in 1962, when final preparations were being made for the summer's World Cup finals in Chile. Moore was uncapped as he flew to South America with the rest of the squad, but made his début on 20 May 1962 in England's final pre-tournament friendly – a 4–0 win over Peru in Lima. Also débuting that day was Tottenham Hotspur defender Maurice Norman. Both proved so impressive that they stayed in the team for the whole of England's participation in the World Cup, which ended in defeat by eventual winners Brazil in the quarter finals at Viña del Mar.
On 29 May 1963, 22-year-old Moore captained his country for the first time in just his 12th appearance after the retirement of Johnny Haynes and an injury to his successor, Jimmy Armfield. He was the youngest man ever to captain England at the highest level. England defeated Czechoslovakia 4–2 in the game and Armfield returned to the role of captain afterwards, but new coach Alf Ramsey gave Moore the job permanently during a series of summer friendlies in 1964, organised because England had failed to reach the latter stages of the inaugural European Championships.
1964 turned out to be quite an eventful year for Moore. As well as gaining the England captaincy, he lifted the FA Cup as West Ham defeated Preston North End 3–2 in the final at Wembley, courtesy of a last-minute goal from Ronnie Boyce. On a personal level, Moore also was successfully treated for testicular cancer and was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.
The FA Cup success would become the first of three successful Wembley finals in as many years for Moore. In 1965, he lifted the European Cup Winners Cup after West Ham defeated 1860 Munich 2–0 in the final with both goals coming from Alan Sealey. By now he was the first choice captain for England with 30 caps, and around whom Ramsey was building a team to prove correct his prediction that they would win the 1966 World Cup. 1966 had a mixed start for Moore, however – he scored his first England goal in a 1–1 draw with Poland, but then captained West Ham to the final of the League Cup – in its last season before its transfer to Wembley as a one-off final – which they lost 5–3 on aggregate to West Bromwich Albion. For Moore, who had scored in the first leg, and his West Ham team-mates Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, considerable consolation lay ahead. Moore scored his second and ultimately final England goal in a friendly against Norway, two weeks before the World Cup would begin.

The World Cup

On the verge of his greatest triumph, details were released to the press in early 1966 that Moore wanted to leave West Ham. Moore had let his contract slip to termination, and only after the intervention of Sir Alf Ramsey and realisation he was technically ineligible to play, did he re-sign with West Ham to allow him to captain the England team of 1966. Ramsey had summoned West Ham manager Ron Greenwood to England's hotel and told the two of them to resolve their differences and get a contract signed up. Moore was the leader of the World Cup winning side and established himself as a world-class player and sporting icon. With all their games at Wembley, England had got through their group with little trouble, they then beat Argentina in a controversial quarter final and a Eusébio-led Portugal team in the semis, a match also surrounded by controversy. West Germany awaited in the final.
According to Geoff Hurst's autobiography, England full back George Cohen overheard Ramsey talking to his coaching staff about the possibility of dropping Moore for the final and deploying the more battle-hardened Norman Hunter in his place. However, eventually they settled on keeping the captain in the team. Moore had not been playing badly, nor had he given the impression that he had been distracted by his contract dispute prior to the competition. The only possible explanations were that the Germans had some rather fast attacking players, which could expose Moore's own lack of pace, and that Hunter – who was of a similar age to Moore but only had four caps – was the club partner of Moore's co-defender with England, Jack Charlton.
In the final, England went 0–1 down through Helmut Haller, but Moore's awareness and quick-thinking helped England to a swift equaliser. He was fouled by Wolfgang Overath midway inside the German half and, rather than remonstrate or head back into defence, he picked himself up quickly while looking ahead and delivered an instant free kick on to Hurst's head, in a movement practised at West Ham. Hurst scored.
The West Ham connection to England's biggest day became stronger when Peters scored to take England 2–1 up, but the Germans equalised in the final minute of normal time through Wolfgang Weber – as Moore appealed unsuccessfully for a handball decision – to take the match into extra time.
Ramsey was convinced the Germans were exhausted, and after Hurst scored a controversial and heavily debated goal, the game looked over. With seconds remaining, and England under the pressure of another German attack, the ball broke to Moore on the edge of his own penalty area. Team-mates shouted at Moore to just get rid of the ball, but he calmly picked out the feet of Hurst 40 yards (40 m) upfield, who scored to bring the score to 4-2.
Of many memorable images from that day, one is of Moore wiping his hands clean of mud and sweat on the velvet tablecloth before shaking the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she presented him with the Jules Rimet trophy.