Bill Werbeniuk

Bill Werbeniuk, nicknamed Big Bill, was a Canadian professional snooker and pool player, born in Winnipeg on 14 January 1947, who died on 20 January 2003. His father owned Pop's Billiards on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg, where he began playing snooker as a child, and in his youth he travelled with Cliff Thorburn playing pool for money. He won the Amateur Championship in 1973 and the North American Amateur Championship, beating Thorburn 26-22. As a professional he was a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist, reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship and the final of the 1983 Lada Classic, and reached a career high world ranking of eighth for the 1983-84 season. He was noted for the large amounts of lager he drank before and during matches to counteract a benign essential tremor.