Lee Spick (25 April 1980 – 26 January 2015) was an English professional snooker player. A former English under-15 champion, he reached the last 48 of ranking events on five occasions, including twice in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Career

He reached the Quarter-Final of the 2000 Benson and Hedges Championship, with wins against

Darren Morgan Darren Morgan (born 3 May 1966) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur and is considered amongst the best in the world. Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the professional m ...

and

Dean Reynolds Dean Reynolds (born 11 January 1963 in Grimsby) is an English former professional snooker player whose career spanned twenty years from 1981 to 2001. Early and personal life From Grimsby, Reynolds is a left-handed player and started playing ...

, as well as others, before losing to Mark Davis 4–5. He also reached the Quarter-Final of the 2001 event, beating the likes of World Championship runner-up

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English retired professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 ...

, before losing out to future World Champion

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

3–5 He reached the last 48 of the 2006 World Championship and the 2007 China Open. Previously in the 2005 World Championship he had victories over David Gilbert 10–5, before a remarkable 10–7 win over

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 15 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005 ...

, which put him only 2 matches away from a place at the Crucible, but

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former World Champion and Masters winner. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his pro ...

denied him with a 10–2 victory. In the 2007 China Open he defeated Jeff Cundy,

Tony Drago Tony Drago ( ; born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 ...

and

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. In the 2007 UK Championships qualifying, he defeated

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

9–7 in arguably one of the best results during his career, but he lost 8–9 to

Andrew Higginson Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open (snooker), 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some succ ...

in the following round. At the 2008 China Open, Spick defeated Ashley Wright,

Rod Lawler Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English retired professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tourna ...

and Mark Davis, before losing in the Last 48 to

Dave Harold David William Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his prof ...

0–5. 2008/09 season started relatively quiet for Spick. However, after recording impressive wins over

Stephen Craigie Stephen Craigie (born 19 June 1990) is an English former professional snooker player from Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under ...

(10–5),

Barry Pinches Barry Pinches (born 13 July 1970 in Catton, Norwich) is an English former professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F.C. He is a form ...

(10–5) and

Adrian Gunnell Adrian Gunnell (born 24 August 1972) is an English former professional snooker player from Telford. He reached the last-16 in four world ranking events (three in Asia, in three different seasons, and at the 2008 Grand Prix). While practising ...

(10–2), he was within one match of reaching the

Crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

for the first time in his career but lost narrowly 8–10 to

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

. Spick seemed to carry that form into the next season, as he reached the last 48 stage of the Shanghai Masters, however he failed to win a further match during the season and as a result was relegated from the tour. After having missed the opportunities to return to main tour via the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and 2012 Q Schools, Spick announced his retirement from snooker. However he decided to come try again at the 2013 Q School, and at Event 3 he defeated Darrell Whitworth,

Sanderson Lam Sanderson Lam () (born 28 January 1994) is an English professional snooker player. Early life Lam was born to Chinese parents in Leeds, England. His parents moved to England in the 1980s. Career In 2011, Lam started to take part in the Players ...

, Darren Cook and

Duane Jones Duane Lionel Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor. He was best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New ...

to win a two-year card for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons. Spick's return proved to be short-lived however, as he only played two matches, losing both, and had multiple withdrawals due to lack of sponsorship and a resulting depression. He never entered another professional tournament after the

2013 UK Championship The 2013 UK Championship (officially the 2013 williamhill.com UK Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 26 November–8 December 2013 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. It was the sixth ranking e ...

Illness and death

World Snooker The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

announced the death of Spick on 26 January 2015, after a liver-related illness.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)

Amateur finals: 3 (2 titles)

References

External links

*
Profile on worldsnooker.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spick, Lee English snooker players 1980 births 2015 deaths Sportspeople from Mansfield Deaths from liver disease