Eddie Charlton
 |
|
| Born |
31 October 1929 Merewether, New South Wales, Australia |
|---|---|
| Died | 8 November 2004 (aged 75) Palmerston North, New Zealand |
| Sport country |
 Australia
|
| Nickname | Steady Eddie |
| Professional | 1963–1995 |
| Highest ranking | 3 (1976–1981) |
| Career winnings | £322,933 |
| Highest break | 138 (1978 Australian Professional Championship) |
| Century breaks | 46 |
| Best ranking finish | Final (1975 World Championship) |
| Tournament wins | |
| Major | Australian Professional Championship: 20 (1964-84) World Professional Match-play Championship (1976) |
| Non-ranking | 28 |
Edward Francis "Eddie" Charlton, AM (31 October 1929 – 8 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title. He later became a successful marketeer of sporting goods launching a popular brand of billiard room equipment bearing his name.
Charlton was born in Merewether, New South Wales, Australia and came from a sporting family. His brother Jim was also a professional snooker player but never joined the world ranks. Eddie himself was also a senior grade footballer, a champion surfer, a good cricketer and a boxer. One of his proudest moments was when he carried the Olympic torch on part of its journey to the 1956 Games in Melbourne.
He worked for a short while as a coal miner before deciding to become a professional cue sports player on the advice of Fred Davis.
Charlton became a professional player in 1963 at the age of 34. The following season he won his first Australian Professional Championship. For the next 20 years, with one exception, he won the title annually. He unsuccessfully challenged Rex Williams for the World Billiards Championship title in 1974 and 1976. His third appearance was in 1984 when he lost by a handful of points to Mark Wildman. Four years later he lost to two-time champion Norman Dagley in his last World Billiards final.
Charlton was also the most successful Australian snooker player until the emergence of Neil Robertson. From the first year of the rankings in 1976/77, he was ranked number three in the world for the next five consecutive seasons from although he never won a ranking tournament (because in the early years only the Snooker World Championship counted).
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