By Elliott West
Introduction
Rolling back the years to the sepia days of snooker, a player that comes to mind is the man fondly known as ‘Mac’, Clark McConachy. From New Zealand, McConachy was a billiards and snooker player and had a envious record of being a billiards champion, unchallenged from 1951-1968. Born in Glenorchy in 1895, Clark was a regular adversary of Joe Davis in both cue sports and was a keen follower of a healthy lifestyle, heavily into fitness, running four miles a day and was a strict teetotaller and non-smoker.
Career
In 1932, Clark finished runner-up to Joe Davis in the Professional Billiards Championship and became champion in 1951 after defeating John Barrie 9,274-6,691. Holding the title there on from 1951-1968, he only lost the title after being afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 73. Despite his illness, he only narrowly lost the final to Rex Williams, 5,234-5,499. His highest break at billiards was 1,943.
In snooker, McConachy reached the final of the 1932 World Championship, losing to Joe Davis and was also the runner-up in 1952 to Horace Lindrum. He also achieved one of the earliest maximum break in a practice session against Pat Kitchen at the Beaufort Club in a table reserved for professional players. A later examination of the table by the Billiards Association and Control Council, found that that the table was slightly over the standard size and so the 147 was disallowed. If it had stood, this record would have overtaken Joe Davis’s record of a 146 break.
Clark was well known for walking around the table on his hands before a match started. An odd quirk but was probably done to get a feel for the playing conditions. He was also inducted into New Zealand’s Sport’s Hall of Fame and was awarded an MBE in 1964 for community and charitable services. McConachy passed away in Greenlane, Auckland in 1980.
Summary
Clark McConachy was a player who extremely skilled at both billiards and snooker. However he competed at a time when Joe Davis was at the height of his success and so was often stifled by his opponent’s shadow. A player who was clearly more successful at billiards than snooker but knew each game inside out and could be a handful for any opponent, hitting them hard with thumping score lines and breaks. A sportsman who New Zealand is clearly proud of and who was a craftsman in his own field.
