By Elliott West
“He had flair, he had natural talent. He would go for outrageous shots but the thing was he used to get most of them. He was very, very, difficult to play against and if you saw your name near his in the draw you were always hopeful that he was going to get beaten by someone else”.
Shaun Murphy
Introduction
Snooker always remembers those that it has lost and one such passing was the sad death of Lee Spick. Lee passed away in 2015 at only 34 after a battle with a liver-related illness. Spick was described as having “lost his way” at the end of his life, was however extremely talented and could have achieved so much more, had he lived a full life. A former English Under-15 champion, Lee played on the tour for several seasons, won a Challenge Tour event in 2002, beating Joe Delaney in the final and almost qualified for the World Championship in 2006, narrowly beaten by John Parrott 10-9 in the final qualifying round.
Career
Lee Spick was born 1980 in Mansfield and chose his career path in snooker at an early age, becoming a promising player as a junior. Winner of the English Under-15 title, Lee grew up playing alongside Shaun Murphy. Both were on a learning curve, learning not only about their craft, snooker but also life in general. These were the salad days where players such as Spick and Murphy were drawn to the game through television exposure. Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry had set the standard and they wanted to push the boundaries further.
Lee’s father owned a snooker club in Mansfield and so snooker and practicing became second nature to him. At the club, friends like Jason Ferguson, Paul Hunter and Gary Wilkinson used to come down and join him. An outstanding junior player, Spick grew a rivalry with Shaun Murphy as these were the two best juniors on the circuit but this rivalry was respectful and competitive. At this time, both boys, loved and breathed snooker.
Spick first turned professional in 2000 but by 2001, he had already fallen off the tour. This kick in the teeth was bitter sweet as failure led to success with Lee winning the amateur title, 2001 English Open, beating Kurt Maflin in the final 8-0. What was also ironic, was that Spick had reached the quarter-final of the Benson and Hedges Championship in 2000, defeating Darren Morgan and Dean Reynolds before losing to Mark Davis 4-5. He also reached the same stage of this event in 2001, losing to his friend and rival, Shaun Murphy 3-5.
More successes followed with titles in the 2002 Challenge Tour-Event 3 and the WPBSA Open Tour-Event 5 with wins over Joe Delaney 5-2 and Mark Gray 5-3. Despite not putting so much time into snooker and sampling the wilder side of life, Spick managed to coast in the rankings. He almost qualified for the 2005 World Championship, reached the last 48 of the 2006 World Championship and in the 2007 China Open, defeated Tony Drago and Dominic Dale.
Probably his greatest scalp came in the 2007 UK Championship qualifiers where he beat Jimmy White 9-7 but then lost to Andrew Higginson in the next round. He followed this up with a last 48 run in the 2008 China Open. He also almost reached the World Championship in 2008 but was pipped to the post by Steve Davis 8-10. The following season, he also reached the last 48 of the Shanghai Masters.
However, perhaps now this was the start of the downward spiral that led to his eventual demise. Lee was relegated from the tour and announced his retirement in 2012. A comeback via the Q School in 2013 was short-lived, playing only two matches as a professional and losing both. Withdrawals from events ensued due to sponsorship being withdrawn and Spick’s increasing battle with depression. The end of his career came after the UK Championship that year and by 2015, Lee was fighting for his life. This was at the same time Shaun Murphy was winning the UK Championship, completing his Triple Crown crusade.
Summary
Lee Spick was an exceptional junior player and a dangerous professional one. Sadly life didn’t treat him well and for whatever reasons, fell off the disciplined path and wandered towards one of the temptations of life, alcohol. Factor into that, bouts of depression caused by a marriage break up and acrimony over paternity rights and you are left with someone who should have won multiple titles but fell away into obscurity. A sad end to a magnificent player that probably failed to get the support he required when he was a junior player and didn’t seek help when he was a professional.
