1953
Jack won through his semi-final by beating his billiards opponent from last years final W. J. Bolton. He was losing 2 frames to 1 after the first away leg but won 3 frames on his home table for a 4 frames to 2 victory.
We know that the three Huddersfield “Stars” are good but the other three members of the Rastrick Con. team can’t be bad either, as none of them have a handicap. This makes it very hard to win a game in the Parish League when you are giving 400 start to other teams. As this game shows you have to “thrash” the opposition just to win by 22 when handicap is added to the total.
Another trip to London for Jack as he beat Harold in the Yorkshire Area Final.
1953
Even the Halifax paper is now reporting on Jack’s success in the English Amateur Championship, as if he was one of there own.
1954
If it wasn’t bad enough that Jack was winning their billiards championship, he showed the the locals of Halifax that he wasn’t too bad a player at snooker as well. The best of five frames final only went to four as Jack won 3 frames to 1 and so held both of the Halifax and District trophies.
After winning the snooker championship it is back to business, as he cruises through the first round of the billiards championship and wins in the league – both with good breaks.
Jack, in his second visit to London for the English Amateur Billiards Championship, was beaten in the first round by Ernest Evans of Matlock. Jack had the consolation of having the best break of the match: a well constructed 119.
The result might have been a surprise to “Half Butt” but, no pun intended, followers of Huddersfield billiards will know that Harold is also a very good player. This was the fourth time they have met in the season. Jack had two wins, one in the Yorkshire Area English Final and another in the semi-final of the Yorkshire Billiards Championship. Harold won the third encounter in the semi-final of the Huddersfield Billiards Championship. I’m sure Jack and Harold are good friends and the rivalry on the green baize won’t change that.
1954
This is the culmination of two years of hard work for Jack. He had played in five Halifax competitions, the Parish League, the Charity and Blind events, the Snooker and Billiards Championships. He had also played in the Huddersfield Billiards and Snooker Championships. The team sides he played with were in the Yorkshire Inter-District League with Huddersfield, the Halifax Inter-Town competition with Brighouse, the Yorkshire Snooker Team Knock Out with Oakes WMC. Lets not forget that he also played in the English Amateur Billiards Championship. There was one newspaper report that said he looked a bit tired – not surprising when you think he had travelled the length and breadth of the county, and not to mention three visits to London as he won his first round match last year as well as the two this year.
In this time his achievements are,
- Yorkshire Area Final Winner of the English Amateur Billiards Championship (twice)
- Yorkshire Billiards Champion
- Yorkshire Billiards Runner-Up
- Huddersfield Billiards Runner-Up
- Halifax Billiards Champion
- Halifax Billiards Runner-Up
- Halifax Snooker Champion
- Yorkshire Billiards Inter-District Champions (twice with Huddersfield)
- Yorkshire Snooker Team Knock Out Champions (with Oakes WMC)
- Halifax Billiards Inter-Town Champions (with Brighouse)
- That equated to 12 finals in two years, no wonder he was described as one of the best amateur players in the county on his day.
Jack Mellor 