Natalie Stelmach (1957/1958 – 8 July 2011) was a Canadian

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player. She was runner-up in the 1984 Amateur

World Women's Snooker Championship The World Women's Snooker Championship (known as the Women's World Open from 1976 Women's World Open (snooker), 1976 to 1981 Women's World Open (snooker), 1981 and the World Ladies Snooker Championship from 1983 Women's World Snooker Championsh ...

Biography

Natalie Stelmach's father Joe, was a minor-league baseball player who later played semi-professionally in the Nickel Belt senior league in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

, Ontaria. Stelmach started playing snooker in 1973, at a newly established family recreation centre, when she was aged 13. The owner, Gabe Tarini, introduced Stelmach to

and later became her coach. At 14, she won the Candian Women's snooker title. At the age of 16, Stelmach was one of two Canadian entrants to the 1976 Women's World Open, held in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She lost in her first match to Lettie Haywood. According to an article in

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

magazine in April 1979, Stelmach had never lost a match to another woman in Canada. She had won the Canadian national title each of the four times that it had been staged. In April 1981, Stelmach made the first by a woman in competition, on the way to winning her sixth Canadian Open title. She has a claim to be the first woman to make a century break, scoring a 109 in 1977. Also in 1981, Stelmach and her playing partner

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

won the World Mixed Pairs Championship. They beat

Vera Selby Vera Selby (; 13 March 1930 – 13 March 2023) was an English snooker and billiards player who won multiple women's world titles in both sports. She won the inaugural World Women's Snooker Championship in 1976 and won the title for a second ti ...

and

John Virgo John Trevor Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English snooker commentator and former professional snooker player. After turning professional in 1976, Virgo won four professional titles, including the 1979 UK Championship, the 1980 Bombay Int ...

on total points scored, 262–239 in the final, after beating Grace Cayley and

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles C ...

267–200 in the semi-final. Stelmach reached the final of the 1984 Women's World Amateur Snooker Championship, defeating Lynette Horsburgh 3–0, Maggie Beer 3–1, Gaye Jones 4–0 and then Caroline Walch 4–0. She lost in the final 1–4 to the 15-year-old Stacey Hillyard. In a 1987 interview with Paul Patton for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', Stelmach reflected that it was hard to promote snooker in Canada because there was not a culture of children playing the game, and added that "There is still a lot of sexism towards women playing." At that point, aged 28, she lived in Sudbury where she owed a

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

, Varsity Billiards.

Titles and achievements

* Canadian Open Women's Champion 1976 * Canadian Open Women's Champion 1977 * Canadian Open Women's Champion 1978 * Canadian Open Women's Champion 1979 * Canadian Open Women's Champion 1980 * Canadian Open Women's Champion 1981 * 1981 World Mixed Pairs Championship (with

) * 1984 Amateur

runner-up.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stelmach, Natalie Canadian snooker players Female snooker players Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury 2011 deaths