John Dunning (snooker player)

John Dunning

Born	April 18, 1927 Morley, West Yorkshire
Died	September 11, 2009 (aged 82) Morley, West Yorkshire
Sport country	England
Professional	1971–1997
Highest ranking	11 (1976/1977)
Best ranking finish	Quarter-final (1974 World Championship)

John Dunning (April 18, 1927 – 11 September 2009) was an English professional snooker player from Morley, West Yorkshire.

Career

Having been Yorkshire amateur champion on eleven occasions, Dunning turned professional in 1971, and played his first World Championship match in 1972, when he lost to John Pulman in the first round, after beating Pat Houlihan and Graham Miles in qualifying. He produced his best performance in 1974, when he reached the quarter-final, subsequently losing his match against Miles 13–15. Dunning's final appearance in the main stages of the event came in 1982.

In 1977, he reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural UK Championship, losing 0–5 to Alex Higgins.

Dunning reached the final of the Yamaha Masters in March 1984. The tournament, played on a three-man-group round-robin basis, saw Dunning start as a 7–1 outsider to qualify from his first group. After he beat Tony Knowles 2–1 in the opening game, he became favourite, before comfortably winning his next match against Les Dodd. In his semi-final match, he played against Australian Warren King and Terry Griffiths of Wales. Dunning lost to King, but beat Griffiths, which made his place in the final, in which he met Dave Martin and the reigning World Champion and world number one Steve Davis. He lost both matches, finishing third, with Davis winning the title, but received a cheque for £6,000. As of June 2015, he remains the oldest-ever finalist in a major snooker event, aged 56 years and 11 months.

Dunning died in Morley, West Yorkshire, on September 11, 2009, aged 82.