Memorial Tribute

Warren, Stan's son writes …

AKA 'Stan the Man'

Stan was a mainstay of the Surrey/Region 7 Pool Association for nearly 30 years as a player, official and referee, not in “headline” roles, but as one of the “behind closed doors organisers” that kept the wheels turning.

An early snooker player, he moved over to pool, and thus a long amateur career on the baize started; from local league, interleague and then county, where one of his fondest memories were playing “for” his son who was captain (even though said son then dropped him after he lost both first frames in the match) – a view Stan agreed with as it was all about the team.

Stan's attention to detail, strict adherence to rules, and great organisation skills, along with his love of the game, meant he was ideal for running pool, and he became involved with the Guildford Automatics Pool League in the early 80's.

He (sometimes) single-handedly kept the local league going, and at times held numerous positions on the committee, not in a “dictatorship role”, but more to ensure the league kept running as no-one would put the hand up to run things/assist in anyway.

He was one of the first to bring, rules and regulations to local level, to stabilise things, and bring some order; for everyone's benefit. Rules brought in clear direction, and everyone played to the same rules, and suffered the consequences if they didn't. “Get that result/registration sheet in on time, or Stan will dock you points”, is a well-known phrase in Region 7!

If a player/team complained about a rule, a well repeated phrase was often heard: “no – one is better than anyone else, a rule is there for a reason, and everyone must comply” - no matter who they were/are!

He was also the go to main for rule clarifications, especially with rule changes over the years, often taking phone calls from players asking to clarify an incident in a match they were “actually” playing at the time!

He held the role of Registration Secretary in Surrey for over 20 years, and many times locked horns with players (and officials) who wanted to bend/ignore the rules-cue the phrase again. He would meticulously keep hard copy records of all registrations and was renowned for his spreadsheet work when it moved digital, many times writing his own formulae for filtering the database looking for specifics, in an age when most couldn't even spell Excel

He combined his role at Surrey with the same role in Region meaning he was responsible for collating the registration details of approx. 1000 players, a thankless task, which he provided “purely for the love of the game”.

He would provide updates at committee meetings on numbers, trends, and numerous other stats, that nowadays is the norm, but he was way ahead of his time.

He was also a qualified referee and brought this to the local league finals, in full referee attire to the (at first) amusement of the local players. These same players were pleading him to referee all the finals before long-it became a theme of finals night-players in jeans/T-Shirts-Stan in full Dress Suit and gloves. (Along with the obligatory result sheet that both players had to sign).

Stan was still Registration Secretary for both Surrey and Region 7 at his sad passing, aged 80, still using Excel like a wizard, and baffling the “youngsters” with his knowledge of Shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+ … )

He was a true gent who, just for the love of the game, gave up time to help others enjoy it also, and will be missed greatly by all involved with pool in the Southeast.