Fred Davis, snooker player; born August 14, 1913, died April 16, 1998

For a man referred to as snooker's elder statesman, Fred Davis could play a mean game of billiards.

So mean, in fact, he became the 1980 world billiards champion at 66, and entered the record books as the oldest person to win a world championship in any sport.

Davis was one of only two men who climbed to the very top of both snooker and billiards. The other was his brother, Joe.

They had a monopoly on the world snooker title for almost 30 years - from the 1920s to the 1950s - and, three decades

later, Fred was still entering competitions.

In more than 60 years as a professional player, Fred mirrored the changing fortunes of the two games and he did much to make snooker the popular spectator sport it is today.

''Television, which had more or less destroyed the game in black and white, in colour has restored it to the state we know today,'' he once said.

His beaming smile brightened up the deadly serious atmosphere of modern commercial tournaments and he liked to boast he never spent more than an hour at a time practising.

When Fred was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1913, Joe was already the town's amateur billiards champion. Fred was to remain under his brother's shadow for much of his life.

He struggled on unsuccessfully while his brother reigned as world snooker champion between 1927 and 1945. Joe finally relinquished his title to Fred in 1946.

But their dominance was broken a year later when Walter Donaldson beat Fred. However, Fred regained his title in 1948, embarking on a run that lasted until 1956.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Fred played with great flair in major snooker tournaments against young pretenders, including Ray Reardon and Steve Davis. He was awarded the OBE in 1977 for his services to the game.

The brothers became much closer in later years. Joe died in 1978 at the age of 77 after falling ill while watching Fred play in the World Snooker Championship semi-finals.

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association presented Fred, who was one of its founding members, with a special award in 1988.

Despite suffering two heart attacks and arthritis in his left leg, he carried on playing into the 1990s. The current world champion, Ken Doherty, paid a fitting tribute to Davis, stating: ''Fred contributed an awful lot to snooker. He was a great character and a great champion. He and his brother gave great service to the game.''