Silvino Francisco Passes Away Age 78

Silvino Francisco, a former world number ten and the only African player to win a ranking event, sadly passed away this month at the age of 78.

Born in South Africa in 1946, Francisco hailed from a cue sports family as his brother Manny was a leading billiards player, while his nephew Peter later followed him in climbing into snooker’s top 16.

Having moved to England to pursue a career on the baize, just as the sport was taking off in the UK, Francisco turned professional in 1981 and enjoyed immediate success. In his first appearance in the World Championship, in 1982, he won two qualifying matches to make it to the Crucible, then beat Dennis Taylor 10-7 and Dean Reynolds 13-8 to reach the quarter-finals, where his run was ended 13-8 by Ray Reardon. As it turned out, that was Francisco’s best ever run in Sheffield, though he did reach the last 16 four more times between 1984 and 1989.

His finest moment came at the 1985 British Open in Derby, when he beat the likes of Jimmy White, Tony Meo and Alex Higgins to reach the final, before a 12-9 victory over Kirk Stevens. Televised by ITV, the peak viewing figure for the final was an astonishing 15.5 million, and the £50,000 top prize was the biggest ever in snooker at the time, albeit soon surpassed by the £60,000 Dennis Taylor received for winning the World Championship eight weeks later.

Francisco reached three other ranking event semi-finals and was ranked among the top 16 for four consecutive seasons. He eventually retired from the pro game in 1997.

WST and WPBSA extend our sincere condolences to Silvino’s wife June and all of his family and friends.