By Elliott West
Introduction
Hailing from Redcar, Mike Dunn recently retired from the main tour after a long and professional career that lasted from 1991-2020. Nicknamed ‘The Gun’, Mike had a snooker career that could be described as being a slow burner. His first six seasons didn’t produce many wins but what it do, was to improve his place in the world rankings with a high in 2010 when he reached number 32.
Career
A regular at the Hartlepool Snooker Centre, Dunn is a player that set himself goals rather than additions to his trophy cabinet. When on the tour, he was often someone you would only see at larger tournaments, often off the television tables but someone who was always dedicated and produced some good wins as he chipped away at his opponents. Seen by many of the younger players as a father figure, Mike took some under his wing when they made the lonely journey to far flung countries across the world.
Mike had some major scalps in his time, beating players such as Jamie Jones, Shaun Murphy, Matthew Stevens, Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham. After briefly losing his place on the tour in 1997 when he fell to 139 in the rankings, Dunn saved his best for the last part of his career. The best run being in the 2014 China Open where he beat Tom Ford, Peter Lines, Tian Pengfei, Craig Steadman and Mark Selby before eventually being beaten by a stronger Ding Junhui in the semi-final. Good runs also occurred at the 2002 World Championship where he earned £14,500 after losing to Matthew Stevens. A resurgent Mike fought back in the match to 6-9 after initially losing 1-7 but sadly he lost the match, 6-10. Good performances also occurred at the Benson and Hedges Championship, 2005 Malta Cup, 2006 UK Championship, the short lived Bahrain Championship in the 2008/2009 season and a quarter-final finish at the 2011 Snooker Shootout where he lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan, 14-90.
Summary
Mike Dunn finally packed away his cue on the 25th July 2020 after 29 years as a professional player. Since retiring, Mike has dabbled as a snooker commentator and now coaches other former colleagues, being a Grade A coach of adults and children mainly as Head Coach at the Q House Snooker Academy in Darlington.This man from Redcar can be proud of his playing career in which he achieved a 147 break at the 2012 German Masters qualifiers and made £560,397 in career earnings. A career that spanned over 26 seasons, Dunn has now moved on to pastures exciting and new.
