By Elliott West
“I became a pro at the same time as Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins”.
Nick Pearce
Introduction
Nick Pearce is a former professional snooker player from Gloucester. A professional from 1992-2003, Nick comes from a family steeped in snooker with his father, Jack and grandfather, Frank, both playing the sport in the Gloucester area. His family also ran the popular Westgate Snooker Club. A formidable player in his time, Pearce had a high of 57 in the world rankings during the 1997/1998 season, making 18 career centuries, a highest break of 137 during the 1994 Thailand Open qualifiers and had his best run as a professional when he reached the semi-finals of the 1996 International Open, losing narrowly to Rod Lawler 5-6.
Career
Nick grew up playing snooker for Gloucester, leaving school at 16 and soon became a British junior champion. Seen on our television screens in 1983 with an appearance on the BBC’s Pot Black, he was eventually defeated by a 14-year-old Stephen Hendry. This was part of a journey that lasted three to four years with the promising junior, travelling to cities such as London and Manchester to practice in his quest to become a professional player.
In 1992, aged 25, Nick achieved his snooker dream and turned professional, having already won over 20 national contests. With several notable appearances, nobody can forget when he appeared in the 1996 Grand Prix and defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan live on the BBC at the Bournemouth International Centre 5-1 in the last 32 stages. He went on to be whitewashed by Alain Robidoux in the last 16 5-0.
Pearce sadly never made it to the Crucible, missing out twice on an opportunity to play. His career was cut short in 2003 when he had to retire from the sport in his mid-thirties due to a back injury but continued to remain active in snooker, running his father’s snooker club until the global recession caused it to close in 2008. Nick also dabbled as an amateur player, winning the English Over-40 category.
Life after Snooker
At the age of 40, Nick settled down with his wife, Lara and went on to have three children. This also led to a career change with Pearce becoming a teaching assistant, working with students with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Based at Bettridge School in Cheltenham, Nick has worked here since 2018, a job that he loves but finds “tough and challenging at times”. A job that he describes as :
“It’s not the sort of job you do for money, but for love”.
Nick Pearce
However, in recent times, he has spent less time at the school due to being discovered as an internationally renowned model, a career that he dabbled with in his twenties. A career that was rekindled when he received a call from Cotswold Life Magazine, asking him to appear in an editorial piece. This call sparked a deluge of work, enabling him to work in cities such as New York for various modelling agencies. Whilst in New York, he received a call from the BBC to appear in Doctor Who as a prominent extra, appearing with Jodie Whittaker and Bradley Walsh and has since also appeared on the ITV series, Cold Feet.
