Joe Johnson

Born	(1952-07-29) 29 July 1952 (age 71) Bradford, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Shoe[1]
Professional	1979–2004
Highest ranking	5 (1987–88)
Tournament wins
Ranking	1
World Champion	1986

Joe Johnson (born 29 July 1952) is an English former professional snooker player and snooker commentator for Eurosport. He became the British under-19 champion in 1971 as an amateur, defeating Tony Knowles in the final. After reaching the finals of the 1978 English Amateur Championship (losing to Terry Griffiths) and the 1978 World Amateur Championship (losing to Cliff Wilson), Johnson turned professional in 1979. He reached his first ranking final at the 1983 Professional Players Tournament (losing to Knowles), and reached the semi-finals of the 1985 Classic (losing to Cliff Thorburn).

Johnson began the 1986 World Snooker Championship as a 150–1 outsider, with first-round losses in both of his previous Crucible appearances. He defeated Griffiths 13–12 in the quarter-finals, Knowles 16–8 in the semi-finals, and Steve Davis 18–12 in the final to win his only world title and the only ranking title of his career. The following year, in the World Championship, Johnson defeated Stephen Hendry 13–12 in the quarterfinals and Neal Foulds 16–9 in the semi-finals. In the final, however, he lost 14–18 to Davis. Johnson won only one match in the final stages of the World Championship thereafter, defeating Wilson in the first round of the 1988 event.

His best performances in the other Triple Crown events were reaching the semi-finals of the 1987 UK Championship (losing 4–9 to Jimmy White) and the semi-finals of the 1988 Masters (losing 3–6 to Davis). Johnson dropped out of the top 16 after the 1989–90 snooker season and made his last Crucible appearance in 1991, losing in the first round to Dennis Taylor. He continued on the professional tour until 2005, when he retired at age 53 after breaking his ankle. Johnson later competed on the World Seniors Tour, where he won the 2019 Seniors Masters.

Early life and amateur career

Johnson was born on 29 July 1952, in Bradford, England.^[2] His mother was named Margaret, and his father was engineer Malik Farooq.^[3][4] The couple separated when Johnson was two years old.^[3] Margaret married Ken Johnson, who later taught his stepson snooker, when Johnson was four.^[3][4] He was the national under-19 Champion in 1971, and a three-time Yorkshire champion.^[2] Johnson set a record in 1978 for the highest break by an amateur player, recording a 140 break at the Middlesbrough TUC Club.^[2]

He was runner-up to Terry Griffiths in the 1978 English amateur championship, and represented England at the 1978 World Amateur Snooker Championship in Malta.^[5] Johnson reached the final, where he was defeated 11–5 by Cliff Wilson. They finished their first session session level at five frames each, but Wilson won the next six frames for the victory.^[6] Johnson made the highest break of the tournament, 101.^[7] Johnson was accepted as a professional by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association in 1979 along with Wilson, Tony Meo and Mike Hallett.^[8] Before taking up snooker professionally, he worked as an apprentice motor mechanic and as a gas fitter.^[3][9]

Professional career

Early years

Johnson achieved little success in his early years as a professional player, and developed a reputation for not performing well in televised matches.^[9] At the 1979 Canadian Open, Johnson defeated Steve Baruda 5–4 after making a 100-break in the first frame. In the next round, Johnson eliminated John Bear 9–7; he then lost 2–9 in the last 16 to Kirk Stevens.^[10] He won the billiards title that ran alongside the snooker competition by defeating Ian Williamson 500–284 in the final.^[11]

Johnson lost his opening match at the 1979 UK Championship to Bill Werbeniuk by 9 frames to 3.^[12] At the 1980 World Snooker Championship Johnson eliminated Roy Andrewartha 9–5 in the first qualifying round, but lost his next match 6–9 to Pat Houlihan.^[12] At the 1980 UK Championship he defeated John Dunning 9–6 before losing 9–4 in the next round to Patsy Fagan.^[12] The 1981 English Professional Championship saw Johnson eliminate Knowles with a 9–2 win in the first round, then receive a walkover against John Pulman to progress to the quarterfinals, where he lost 5–9 to Ray Edmonds.^[12] At the 1981 World Championship Johnson took a 4–3 lead against Meo after the first session, but lost in the deciding frame.^[13][14]

In the 1981–82 snooker season, Johnson progressed through several rounds at the 1981 Jameson international.^[15] He defeated Jim Donnelly 5–4 and Murdo MacLeod 5–1 and then received a walkover against Pulman. He next eliminated Jim Wych 5–2, which was the most significant win of his professional career up to that point, but lost in the last-24 round, 3–5 to Graham Miles.^[15][16]

Johnson began the 1981 UK Championship with a 9–1 win over Tommy Murphy. This was followed by a 9–3 defeat of Mike Watterson and a 9–4 win over Wilson. In the next round, Johnson eliminated the former three-time world champion John Spencer 9–5 and this earned Johnson a last-16 tie against another former world champion, Ray Reardon, to whom Johnson lost 7–9.^[17][15] In the qualifying rounds of the 1982 World Championship Johnson defeated Vic Harris 9–4 and reached the last 48, where he lost 8–9 to Hallett.^[15]

1982–85 – Ranking event finalist

After receiving a walkover against John Phillips, Johnson faced Wilson in the qualifying competition for the 1982 Jameson International. After taking a 4–2 lead, he lost 4–5.^[18] Johnson won his first ranking points at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament.^[2] He began with a 5–1 win against Miles, followed by a 5–1 win against sixth-ranked Stevens and a 5–4 final-16 win against Mark Wildman.^[19] In the quarterfinal, Johnson won the first frame against John Virgo but was defeated 1–5.^[19] As one of six players outside the top eight in the rankings who progressed furthest in the tournament, he was awarded a place at the 1983 Masters.^[20][21] Johnson lost his opening match at the Masters to Cliff Thorburn.^[22] In the qualifying event for the 1983 World Championship, recorded a 10–0 whitewash against Paul Watchorn in the first round but lost 8–9 to Wilson and failed to reach the main event.^[22]

Johnson's points from the previous season saw him ranked 23rd in the world.^[23] In the last 48 of the 1983 International Open, he beat Dennis Hughes 5–1 and lost 2–5 to Eddie Charlton in the last 32.^[2][22] Johnson began the untelevised 1983 Professional Players Tournament with a 5–3 win against Pascal Burke. In the last 32, he defeated Jimmy White 5–3. In his next match, against Charlton, Johnson won 5–0.^[22] In the quarter-final, Johnson eliminated Thorburn 5–1; he defeated Meo 9–6 in the semi-finals to reach his first major final, against Knowles.^[2][22] After being 1–6 down to Knowles, Johnson compiled the highest break of the tournament (135) and levelled the match at 8–8 before Knowles secured the deciding frame.^[24]

At the 1983 UK Championship, Johnson reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Matt Gibson and Virgo (both by 9–6) and David Taylor 9–3.^[22] The quarter-final against Griffiths was his first televised match as a professional.^[25] Johnson lost the first seven frames and the match, 2–9.^[25] In the qualifying event for the 1984 World Championship, he won his encounter with Matt Gibson 10–3 to earn his debut on the Crucible stage^[22][26] (where he was defeated 1–10 by Dennis Taylor).^[22]

Johnson began the 1984–85 snooker season ranked 19th.^[27] At the 1984 Costa Del Sol Classic, he started with a quarterfinal win against Mick Fisher and lost 3–2 in the semi-final to Dennis Taylor.^[28] Johnson lost to Taylor again at the 1984 International Open.^[22] He eliminated Mario Morra 5–0 and Eddie Charlton 5–1 in the last 32 before losing to Taylor 2–5 in the last 16.^[22] In the following ranking event, the 1984 Grand Prix, Johnson defeated Paul Medati 5–1 but lost 4–5 to Williamson in the last 32.^[22] At the 1984 UK Championship, he defeated John Rea 9–6 and Spencer by the same score in the last 32 before a 2–0 defeat by Stevens in the last 16.^[22] Johnson defeated Edmonds and Knowles to reach the last 16 at the 1985 Mercantile Credit Classic.^[22] He then whitewashed Wilson and achieved his first win in a televised match, winning each frame by a narrow margin.^[29] A 5–3 victory against Warren King took him into the semi-finals.^[29] According to Janice Hale of The Daily Telegraph, Johnson "failed to reproduce any of the fighting form which he displayed in the final of last season's Professional Players Tournament" as he lost 2–9 to Thorburn.^[30]

He qualified for the main stage of the 1985 World Snooker Championship again by defeating Geoff Foulds 10–6.^[9] Johnson played Werbeniuk (who had not won a match all season) in the first round, but Werbeniuk made a 143 break in the tenth frame – the third-highest break ever recorded at the championship at that time – and won 10–8.^[31]

1985–86 season – World champion

Johnson began the season ranked 16th, inside the top 16 for the first time in his career.^[32] He was relatively unheralded going into the 1986 World Championship, since he had never won a televised match until the previous year.^[33] Johnson had also never won a match at the Crucible Theatre, and was rated a 150–1 outsider.^[34] His best results during the season had been quarter-final finishes at the 1985 Matchroom Trophy (where he lost 3–5 to Neal Foulds) and at the 1986 Mercantile Credit Classic, where he lost 4–5 to Thorburn.^[35][22]

He defeated Dave Martin 10–3 in the first round for his first win in three main World Championship appearances.^[36] In the second round, Johnson took a 5–3 lead against Hallett after the first session and went on to win 13–6.^[37] He met former champion Griffiths in the quarter-finals. Johnson led 9–7 going into the final session, but Griffiths won five straight frames to lead 12–9 before Johnson won four straight frames (including two century breaks) to win 13–12.^[33][38] He eliminated Knowles despite taking painkillers for a cyst on his back before the start of play, winning the last two frames of the final session for a 16–8 victory.^[34][39][40]

In the final, Johnson met world number-one Steve Davis; they had never previously played a professional match against each other.^[40][41] Davis was considered much more likely to win the final, reflected in the bookmakers' odds of 2/9 for Davis and 5/1 for Johnson. Davis took a 3–1 lead, making breaks of 108 and 107.^[42] Johnson then took the next three frames to finish the first session 4–3 ahead. Davis began the second session by winning four frames in succession to put himself ahead 7–4. After the next mid-session interval, Johnson won four consecutive frames^[34] before Davis clinched the last frame to leave the match level at 8–8 overnight.^[43]

On the second day, Johnson wore an unusual pair of red, pink, and white leather shoes.^[42] Resuming the match, he won another run of four frames to take a 12–8 lead.^[43] Gordon Burn later wrote, "From the beginning of the third session he played an open game full of flair and daring and the length-of-the-table, long-potting which had been so characteristic of Steve Davis in the days when he was still making his name."^[44] The session ended with Johnson ahead 13–11.^[34] In the final session the crowd appeared to favour Johnson, who had played with an attacking style throughout the tournament.^[43] He won three of the next four frames to lead 16–12 before the mid-session interval.^[41][43] He then added frame 29, and compiled a break of 64 in frame 30 to win the match 18–12.^[34][41][43] The win helped lift Johnson from 16th place in the 1985–86 professional rankings to eighth for 1986–87.^[45]

He wore a T-shirt with the slogan "Bradford's Bouncing Back" (a reference to the Bradford City stadium fire a year earlier) when he was not playing in the tournament.^[46] Johnson's win led to an appearance on the television show Wogan and a "personal appearance" accompanying pop star Cliff Richard to watch Wimbledon.^[43]

Post-World Championship win

He had a poor season in terms of results as world champion, and lost before the televised stage in every major tournament except one before the 1987 World Snooker Championship.^[32][47] By his own admission, Johnson arrived at the Crucible for the tournament hoping merely to progress past the first round.^[48] However, he defied expectations and reached the final again.^[47] In the first round, Johnson narrowly defeated Eugene Hughes in a match that went to the last frame.^[49] He followed this with a 13–7 win against MacLeod, then defeated the teenaged Stephen Hendry 13–12 in the quarter-finals.^[47][49] In the semi-final, Johnson won 16–9 against Neal Foulds.^[50] Once again his opponent in the final was Davis, who defeated him.^[49]

Johnson took a 4–3 lead in the first session, but was 7–9 behind after session two.^[48] Davis increased his advantage to 14–9, but Johnson took the last frame of the third session and the first three frames of the concluding session to be one frame behind at 13–14.^[48] After Johnson had a bad miss attempting a long pot early in frame 28, Davis took that frame and the next two for an 18–14 victory.^[48] Davis said, "For Joe to come to the Crucible and play as if he hadn't had the season he has was tremendous, really."^[48] Johnson praised Davis, as he had after the 1986 final, and said about his own year as champion: "It only seemed five minutes when I walked out to play Steve again in the final, but with all the personal appearances it just seemed to go on and on."^[48]

He reached fifth place in the world 1987–88 rankings based on results from the two preceding seasons, largely as a result of his performances at the Crucible.^[51] Johnson was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in the four-player 1987 Carling Challenge,^[52] and won the 1987 Scottish Masters by overcoming Griffiths 9–7 in the final for his only other major professional snooker title.^[53][54] He reached the semi-finals of the 1987 UK Championship, where he came close to making a 147 maximum break against White, but missed the pink on 134^[32] and lost the match 4–9.^[22] Later that season Johnson reached the semi-finals of the 1988 Masters, where he lost 3–6 to Davis after eliminating Willie Thorne and White.^[22] He defeated Wilson 10–7 in the first round of the 1988 World Championship,^[55] and recovered from 3–11 to 9–11 against Steve James before losing after James won the next two frames.^[56]

Dropping six places to 11th in the 1988–89 snooker season,^[57] Johnson's best showing in a ranking tournament was reaching the quarter-finals of the 1988 Fidelity International Open. He lost 5–10 to Meo in the first round of the 1989 World Championship.^[22] In 1989–90, Johnson was runner-up to Thorne in the invitational 1989 New Zealand Masters.^[22] His best ranking-tournament performance was at the 1989 Rothmans Grand Prix, when he whitewashed White in a run to the quarter-finals.^[22] Johnson won the invitational 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix by defeating Hendry 5–3 in the final,^[58] but lost 8–10 to Darren Morgan in the opening round of the 1990 World Championship.^[22]

Later career

Johnson began the 1990–91 season ranked 18th, outside the top 16 after five years in that group.^[27][59] He failed to progress as far as the quarter-finals in any ranking event that season.^[60] Johnson won a four-player round-robin event, the 1991 Nescafe Extra Challenge, winning all three of his matches against Tony Drago, James Wattana and Alain Robidoux.^[61] He qualified for his last appearance at the Crucible, the 1991 World Championship, where he lost 6–10 to Dennis Taylor in the first round.^[60] Johnson had heart and eye problems during the 1990s, although he continued to play in qualifying events.^[62]

He reached the quarter-finals of the 1991 Grand Prix after defeating King in the last 64, Tony Jones in the last 32 and Hallett in the last 16 to set up the quarter-final against Nigel Bond, where he lost 3–5.^[22] Johnson was runner-up to Hendry in the invitational 1992 European Challenge,^[63] and narrowly missed qualifying for the 1992 World Championship after losing 9–10 to Mick Price on the pink ball in the deciding frame.^[64]

Needing to win one match to qualify for the 1993 World Championship, Johnson lost 10–6 to Karl Payne in the last 48.^[65] He won only one qualifying match at the World Championship in his next five attempts, a 10–5 victory against Matthew Crouch in the 1995 World Championship.^[65] Johnson did not reach the last 48 of the World Championship again after 1993, although he won three matches in 2003.^[65] He broke his ankle in a fall at home before the start of the 2003–04 season, and did not compete in any events until the World Championship in February 2004. Johnson conceded, 0–9 behind, to Ian Preece in their best-of-19-frames match.^[66][67] He played his last match as a professional later that month in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 Players Championship, where he lost to 3–5 to Stuart Mann.^[66][68] Johnson retired in 2005, aged 53, as the oldest player on the professional snooker circuit.^[33]

Seniors events

He won the Seniors Pot Black Trophy in 1997.^[69] Johnson played in the 2000 World Seniors Masters, a one-frame-format event, and lost in the first round to eventual champion Willie Thorne.^[70] He promoted the revival of the World Seniors Championship in 2010,^[32][71] and lost 0–2 to Davis in his opening match.^[72] Johnson won the April 2019 World Seniors Masters, with all three of his matches determined on a re-spotted black (which was used to determine the winner if each player won one of two frames).^[73][74] In 2023, he continued to play in senior events.^[75]

Legacy

In his 2012 book, Clive Everton wrote that in 1986 Johnson "produced an unstoppable urge of inspiration" but "never sustained such form before and never sustained it again",^[76] found the pressures of World Championship fame difficult, and was poorly served by his manager.^[76] Snooker journalist Hector Nunns wrote in 2017 that "it will be for his shot-making, his shoes, his extra-curricular singing, and his sheer joie de vivre in the match that defined his career that Johnson will always be remembered".^[77] In their book about world champions, Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby wrote: "His attacking style and ability to crash in long pots ... prefigured the tactical approach that would dominate snooker from the 1990s into the new millennium."^[59]

Other activities

Johnson was the subject of This is Your Life and a guest on the celebrity sports quiz A Question of Sport in 1986.^[78][79] BBC1 broadcast an April 1987 30-minute profile of Johnson, An Ordinary Joe, which focused on the year since his world-championship victory.^[80] He made several appearances on the snooker-themed game show Big Break between 1991 and 2001.^[81] Johnson was interviewed for an episode of the BBC Radio 5 Live show Time of My Life in 1998, and was a guest on the TV quiz show Celebrity Eggheads in 2012.^[82][83]

He sang in the Preston-based band Made in Japan,^[84] who released a cover of "Everlasting Love" in October 1986.^[85] Johnson coached Shaun Murphy,^[32] and was an early influence on Paul Hunter.^[86] He is a regular commentator for Eurosport.^[53] In December 2013, John Higgins said about Johnson: "I heard before the 2013 UK Championship Joe Johnson was slating me. If that guy isn't the worst commentator in the world, he's in the top three".^[87]

Johnson owned Cue Gardens, a Bradford snooker club, and ran a coaching academy with Richard Harrison.^[33] He is married to Terryl, and has seven children.^[2][62] By 2017, he had survived seven heart attacks.^[62]

Performance and rankings timeline