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Interview with Tom Cleary
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This Interview with Tom Cleary was conducted by Don Richter at the Victorian Club, Melbourne in July 1981 and has never before been published.
Interview with Tom Cleary, World Billiards Champion
Tom Cleary won the World Amateur Billiards Championship in Sydney in 1954 making a new world record break of 682. He also won twenty Victorian Billiards Championships and five Australian Billiards Championships between the years 1935 and 1967. . Tom also made breaks of 435, 408, 413 (twice), and 432 in Australian Championships, six centuries in a two-hour session, and a four-hour match aggregate of 3185, a tick under 800 points per hour for four hours straight.
Interview with Tom Cleary, World Billiards Champion
Tom Cleary won the World Amateur Billiards Championship in Sydney in 1954 making a new world record break of 682. He also won twenty Victorian Billiards Championships and five Australian Billiards Championships between the years 1935 and 1967. . Tom also made breaks of 435, 408, 413 (twice), and 432 in Australian Championships, six centuries in a two-hour session, and a four-hour match aggregate of 3185, a tick under 800 points per hour for four hours straight.
How did you start in the game?
I started as a boy at the Yarraville CYMS but I couldn’t play for two years so I used to watch everyone playing at the club. There were some good players down there at that time and I was like 19th man for the team of six and I used to carry the cues around and act as ball boy. A bloke told me to go and look at Horace Lindrum at Flinders Lane and I went in there and he was playing this top of the table so I went back to the club and tried to emulate him. It was a lot of time till I could actually play at all. I made my first 100 break when I was eighteen years of age. I played all round billiards at that stage and I’d say to become a good billiard player you’ve got to learn how to make a 100 break with all round billiards before you get to top of the table, but top of the table is the only game to be a champion. A top of the table player will beat a red ball player every time.
Did anyone actually teach you?
No I was self taught. I watched and took it in.
When did you first enter any championships?
I forget the year but I reached the semi final of the Victorian Championship and was beaten by Bill Carter. I was twenty-one years of age. I won it at my second attempt in 1935 beating a fellow called Charles Norman.
How much were you practicing at that time?
Oh I used to practice as much as I could. I was on the table all the time. You’ve got to keep practicing till your back breaks. Walter Lindrum told me that. I was practicing about four hours a day, then as I improved I played six hours a day at the club.
When did you compete in your first National Championship?
I played in my first Australian Championship in Sydney in 1935. I got to the final and played a chap called Les Hayes, he was the Australian Champion at that time and he was purely a red ballplayer, slow as anything. I’ll never forget, the event was 1000 up in those days and the scores were 960 to 160 or so and he potted the white and double baulked me he was that far in front. That’s how tough he was. Unfortunately the poor chap died and I could never get my revenge on him.
It wasn’t until 1947 that you won your first Australian title.
Bob Marshall used to kill me year after year after year. He was a champion, the best amateur I ever played, but he was a killer. He wouldn’t give me a go at all. He thrashed me. He played the postman’s knock. He couldn’t play floating white, he was too heavy handed. He couldn’t play nursery cannons but he was a champion at postman’s knock.
Did you ever play postman’s knock?
I played a bit of it but floating white was my game. I watched Walter Lindrum play and copied him. Lindrum could play anything but he preferred floating white, and nursery cannons. His touch was magnificent. Floating white is more elegant than postman’s knock.
Tell us about the final of the 1953 Australian championship against Bob Marshall.
Yes that was up in Queensland. I was about 400 ahead and going very well. He double baulked me but left the red right over the baulk pocket. I said to myself “I’m playing that well I’ll pot this red” and I fired up and down the table and missed the damn thing and he made a 472 break on me including about 10 flukes. That was the year Bob made the 702 record break.
You played in seven world titles winning in 1954 and making a new world record break of 682.
I finished third in 1938 and 1951. In 1954 it was played at the Sydney showgrounds and I beat Bob Marshall and made the 682 break in the next game against a chap called Taffy Reeves. I was playing my best ever billiards then.
Is that your best break?
No I’ve made a 781 here in the Victorian Club against a fellow named Bill Bailey from Ballarat.
What happened in the 1958 world championship?
That was in Calcutta. The climate conditions over there are very bad. The cues get sticky. Sri Lanka is the worst place I’ve ever played. Jim Long and I played there and you couldn’t work your cue through your bridge hand. We had to wear gloves and that’s ridiculous. How can you play billiards with gloves on?
You always had the upper hand in your tussles with Jim Long.
Jim was my arch rival in Victorian Championships but I was always fortunately able to just beat him. He was a real top player. Jim was runner up in the world championship in Scotland. There’s no billiard players around now who can play like him.
Your 682 break took 32 minutes. How do you maintain concentration shot after shot?
In the big championships you’ve got to concentrate. You’ve got to be fit and concentrate on the easy shots. I used be at my glory in championships. Blokes would beat me in a club tournament but in championships I would make every post a winner. I would give them all a chance in club events and consequently I was beaten on occasion being too easy on them, but in championships I wasn’t easy. You’ve got to make yourself concentrate. You have to be fit. I used to walk my dog for miles around Royal Park where I live. I used to run and jog and do exercises. Blokes used to think I was mad. You’ve got be dedicated to the game you see. I used to think about five shots ahead all the time and by thinking five shots ahead it used to help my concentration.
Did you have much to do with Walter Lindrum?
I toured with him for three months in South Australia when he was playing to raise money for the fighting forces. He wouldn’t teach me anything but I used to watch him and keep it in my head. I’d stand over him and watch every shot bar the nursery cannons, they were beyond me to a certain extent. I learned a lot off Walter but he never ever taught me anything. Walter would talk billiards day and night. I remember on the train with Walter once in South Australia he started playing nursery cannons on the seat of the train. He was a fanatic. He lived and dreamed billiards. All billiard players have got to be fanatics. I used to dream I made thousand breaks in my sleep even.
Did Walter teach anybody anything?
No, I think he was that brilliant he didn’t know where to start. He was a very peculiar bloke, a good bloke and yet a funny bloke. He never wanted any money. He was careless like that. He would be offered money but he wouldn’t take it. He never passed on his knowledge unfortunately. When I came back from England I thought a thousand break is not beyond me if only I could play nursery cannons. I said to him “Walter, any chance of getting a few tips?” and he’d say “Yes come down to Albert Park” but every time I’d come down to his house he had an excuse that he couldn’t show me and as a result he never taught me anything. Horace Lindrum was the same but I used to go and spot the balls for Horace when he practiced every morning from 10 to 12 at Flinders Lane. I used to then go back to the Yarraville club and emulate him. It took me about 5 years to learn how to play top of the table, that’s how hard it is.
Was Walter Lindrum good at snooker?
Oh yes he was a champion at snooker too. He used to place the all the balls on the table and pot them all. He was a beautiful player of anything on the table. He said “Give me three months’ practice and I’ll beat Joe Davis”.
How fast do you think billiards should be played?
Well you’ve got to play at fairly fast pace. Not too slow and not too fast but you’ve got to keep moving all the time. Lindrum didn’t rush it, but everything came automatically to him. The nursery cannons gave him a spell.
What do you think about the new super crystalate balls?
I don’t like them at all. In my opinion they are a liability, especially for billiards. They are all right for snooker. It’s all stun and screw for snooker, but you’ve got to learn to play billiards all over again. They run through and do some funny things. The old crystalate balls would throw wider and they would do little things with side that these new balls won’t do.
Editor's note: I
My friend David Pitt and I had a lesson from Tom Cleary when I was about 20 years old. We were just working on losing hazards (in-offs). We both remember Tom telling us, over and over again, any time we made a thin contact with the object ball, or failed to bring it into the magic circle: "Thick, thick, thick - all the f***ing time"! (Editor - Jason Colebrook).
I started as a boy at the Yarraville CYMS but I couldn’t play for two years so I used to watch everyone playing at the club. There were some good players down there at that time and I was like 19th man for the team of six and I used to carry the cues around and act as ball boy. A bloke told me to go and look at Horace Lindrum at Flinders Lane and I went in there and he was playing this top of the table so I went back to the club and tried to emulate him. It was a lot of time till I could actually play at all. I made my first 100 break when I was eighteen years of age. I played all round billiards at that stage and I’d say to become a good billiard player you’ve got to learn how to make a 100 break with all round billiards before you get to top of the table, but top of the table is the only game to be a champion. A top of the table player will beat a red ball player every time.
Did anyone actually teach you?
No I was self taught. I watched and took it in.
When did you first enter any championships?
I forget the year but I reached the semi final of the Victorian Championship and was beaten by Bill Carter. I was twenty-one years of age. I won it at my second attempt in 1935 beating a fellow called Charles Norman.
How much were you practicing at that time?
Oh I used to practice as much as I could. I was on the table all the time. You’ve got to keep practicing till your back breaks. Walter Lindrum told me that. I was practicing about four hours a day, then as I improved I played six hours a day at the club.
When did you compete in your first National Championship?
I played in my first Australian Championship in Sydney in 1935. I got to the final and played a chap called Les Hayes, he was the Australian Champion at that time and he was purely a red ballplayer, slow as anything. I’ll never forget, the event was 1000 up in those days and the scores were 960 to 160 or so and he potted the white and double baulked me he was that far in front. That’s how tough he was. Unfortunately the poor chap died and I could never get my revenge on him.
It wasn’t until 1947 that you won your first Australian title.
Bob Marshall used to kill me year after year after year. He was a champion, the best amateur I ever played, but he was a killer. He wouldn’t give me a go at all. He thrashed me. He played the postman’s knock. He couldn’t play floating white, he was too heavy handed. He couldn’t play nursery cannons but he was a champion at postman’s knock.
Did you ever play postman’s knock?
I played a bit of it but floating white was my game. I watched Walter Lindrum play and copied him. Lindrum could play anything but he preferred floating white, and nursery cannons. His touch was magnificent. Floating white is more elegant than postman’s knock.
Tell us about the final of the 1953 Australian championship against Bob Marshall.
Yes that was up in Queensland. I was about 400 ahead and going very well. He double baulked me but left the red right over the baulk pocket. I said to myself “I’m playing that well I’ll pot this red” and I fired up and down the table and missed the damn thing and he made a 472 break on me including about 10 flukes. That was the year Bob made the 702 record break.
You played in seven world titles winning in 1954 and making a new world record break of 682.
I finished third in 1938 and 1951. In 1954 it was played at the Sydney showgrounds and I beat Bob Marshall and made the 682 break in the next game against a chap called Taffy Reeves. I was playing my best ever billiards then.
Is that your best break?
No I’ve made a 781 here in the Victorian Club against a fellow named Bill Bailey from Ballarat.
What happened in the 1958 world championship?
That was in Calcutta. The climate conditions over there are very bad. The cues get sticky. Sri Lanka is the worst place I’ve ever played. Jim Long and I played there and you couldn’t work your cue through your bridge hand. We had to wear gloves and that’s ridiculous. How can you play billiards with gloves on?
You always had the upper hand in your tussles with Jim Long.
Jim was my arch rival in Victorian Championships but I was always fortunately able to just beat him. He was a real top player. Jim was runner up in the world championship in Scotland. There’s no billiard players around now who can play like him.
Your 682 break took 32 minutes. How do you maintain concentration shot after shot?
In the big championships you’ve got to concentrate. You’ve got to be fit and concentrate on the easy shots. I used be at my glory in championships. Blokes would beat me in a club tournament but in championships I would make every post a winner. I would give them all a chance in club events and consequently I was beaten on occasion being too easy on them, but in championships I wasn’t easy. You’ve got to make yourself concentrate. You have to be fit. I used to walk my dog for miles around Royal Park where I live. I used to run and jog and do exercises. Blokes used to think I was mad. You’ve got be dedicated to the game you see. I used to think about five shots ahead all the time and by thinking five shots ahead it used to help my concentration.
Did you have much to do with Walter Lindrum?
I toured with him for three months in South Australia when he was playing to raise money for the fighting forces. He wouldn’t teach me anything but I used to watch him and keep it in my head. I’d stand over him and watch every shot bar the nursery cannons, they were beyond me to a certain extent. I learned a lot off Walter but he never ever taught me anything. Walter would talk billiards day and night. I remember on the train with Walter once in South Australia he started playing nursery cannons on the seat of the train. He was a fanatic. He lived and dreamed billiards. All billiard players have got to be fanatics. I used to dream I made thousand breaks in my sleep even.
Did Walter teach anybody anything?
No, I think he was that brilliant he didn’t know where to start. He was a very peculiar bloke, a good bloke and yet a funny bloke. He never wanted any money. He was careless like that. He would be offered money but he wouldn’t take it. He never passed on his knowledge unfortunately. When I came back from England I thought a thousand break is not beyond me if only I could play nursery cannons. I said to him “Walter, any chance of getting a few tips?” and he’d say “Yes come down to Albert Park” but every time I’d come down to his house he had an excuse that he couldn’t show me and as a result he never taught me anything. Horace Lindrum was the same but I used to go and spot the balls for Horace when he practiced every morning from 10 to 12 at Flinders Lane. I used to then go back to the Yarraville club and emulate him. It took me about 5 years to learn how to play top of the table, that’s how hard it is.
Was Walter Lindrum good at snooker?
Oh yes he was a champion at snooker too. He used to place the all the balls on the table and pot them all. He was a beautiful player of anything on the table. He said “Give me three months’ practice and I’ll beat Joe Davis”.
How fast do you think billiards should be played?
Well you’ve got to play at fairly fast pace. Not too slow and not too fast but you’ve got to keep moving all the time. Lindrum didn’t rush it, but everything came automatically to him. The nursery cannons gave him a spell.
What do you think about the new super crystalate balls?
I don’t like them at all. In my opinion they are a liability, especially for billiards. They are all right for snooker. It’s all stun and screw for snooker, but you’ve got to learn to play billiards all over again. They run through and do some funny things. The old crystalate balls would throw wider and they would do little things with side that these new balls won’t do.
Editor's note: I
My friend David Pitt and I had a lesson from Tom Cleary when I was about 20 years old. We were just working on losing hazards (in-offs). We both remember Tom telling us, over and over again, any time we made a thin contact with the object ball, or failed to bring it into the magic circle: "Thick, thick, thick - all the f***ing time"! (Editor - Jason Colebrook).
