Editing Ray Reardon (section)

{{Short description|Welsh professional snooker player (1932–2024)}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox snooker player
|name             = Ray Reardon
|honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
|image            = Ray Reardon 1949.jpg
|caption          = Reardon in 1949
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1932|10|8|df=y}}
|birth_place      = [[Tredegar]], [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]], Wales
|death_date       = {{death date and age|2024|7|19|1932|10|8|df=y}}
|death_place      =
|Sport country    = Wales
|Professional     = 1967–1991
|High ranking     = '''[[List of world number one snooker players|1]]''' (1976–1981, 1982–1983)
|Ranking wins     = 5
|World champ      = {{Hlist|[[1970 World Snooker Championship|1970]] | [[1973 World Snooker Championship|1973]] | [[1974 World Snooker Championship|1974]] | [[1975 World Snooker Championship|1975]] | [[1976 World Snooker Championship|1976]] | [[1978 World Snooker Championship|1978]]}}
}}

'''Raymond Reardon''' (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional [[snooker]] player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the [[World Snooker Championship]] six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to his dark [[widow's peak]] and prominent [[eye teeth]], he was nicknamed "[[Dracula]]".

Until his mid-thirties, Reardon worked as a coal miner and then as a police officer while pursuing snooker at an amateur level. His titles during this era included six consecutive [[Welsh Amateur Championship (snooker)|Welsh Amateur Championships]] from 1950 to 1955 and the [[English Amateur Championship]] in 1964. He turned professional in 1967 and became World Champion in [[1970 World Snooker Championship|1970]], [[1973 World Snooker Championship|1973]], [[1974 World Snooker Championship|1974]], [[1975 World Snooker Championship|1975]], [[1976 World Snooker Championship|1976]], and [[1978 World Snooker Championship|1978]]; he was also runner-up in [[1982 World Snooker Championship|1982]]. His other major tournament wins included the inaugural ''[[Pot Black]]'' tournament in [[1969 Pot Black|1969]], the [[1976 Masters (snooker)|1976 Masters]], and the [[1982 Professional Players Tournament]]. The [[List of world number one snooker players|first player to be ranked "world number one"]] when world rankings were introduced during the [[1976–77 snooker season|1976–77 season]], he held the position for the next five years. He regained the top ranking position in [[1982–83 snooker season|1982]], after which his form declined; he dropped out of the elite top-16 ranked players after the [[1986–87 snooker season|1986–87 season]].

In 1978, Reardon became the oldest world snooker champion, aged 45 years and 203 days, a record that he held until the [[2022 World Snooker Championship|2022 event]], when [[Ronnie O'Sullivan]] won his seventh world title at the age of 46 years and 148 days. Reardon remains the oldest player to win a ranking event, which he accomplished in 1982, aged 50 years and 14 days. He retired from professional competition in 1991, aged 58, never having achieved a [[maximum break]] in tournament play; his highest {{cuegloss|break}} in competition was 146. During his retirement, Reardon was president of [[Churston Ferrers]] golf club in [[Devon]], where he was a member for over 40 years. He [[mentor]]ed O'Sullivan in preparation for his [[2004 World Snooker Championship|2004 World Championship]] campaign, helping him lift his second world title. Appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1985, he died from cancer in July 2024, aged 91.