Bill Werbeniuk

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Bill Werbeniuk
Born	January 14, 1947(1947-01-14)
Died	January 20, 2003 (aged 56)
Nationality	Canadian
Nickname(s)	Big Bill
Professional	1973–1990
Highest ranking	#8 (1983/84)
Highest break	147
Best ranking finish	Quarter final: World Championship (4 times)

William Alexander `Bill` Werbeniuk (January 14, 1947 - January 20, 2003) was a Canadian professional snooker player. Instantly recognised for his girth, he was known as Big Bill.

Werbeniuk was noted for the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed before and during matches. He said that he generally drank around six pints of lager before a match and then one pint for each frame. He said he did this to counteract familial benign essential tremor. Later in his career he also took propranolol, a beta blocker; some sources claim he took it for the tremor, while others say he took it to cope with the effects of his enormous alcohol consumption on his heart.

A memorable incident occurred during a televised World Championship Match against David Taylor at the Crucible. Werbeniuk attempted to stretch across the table, but due to his size was having some difficulty. Eventually, the inevitable happened and he split his trousers. The ripping noise it made caused many in the audience, including opponent David Taylor, to laugh out loud. Bill took it in good humour, asking the audience "who did that?" as if insinuating that the noise was attributed to flatulence.

Werbeniuk was ranked as high as eighth in the world in 1983 ^[1] and reached the quarter finals of the world championship four times before propranolol was banned in snooker competition. He played his last professional match in 1990. A bankruptcy order was made against him in 1991. Towards the end of his life, he played professional pool.

[edit] External links

• Profile at The Global Snooker Centre
• The life and death of Bill Werbeniuk
• Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
• Interview with Bill Werbeniuk in 1998

[edit] References