| Peter Mans | |
| Birth Date: | 1915 |
| Death Date: | September 1975 |
| Sport Country: | South Africa |
Peter Mans (1915 – September 1975) was a South African professional snooker player.[1] [2] He was the first South African Professional Champion and held title, which was contested on a challenge basis, from 1948 to 1950.[3] [4] Professional and coach Jack Karnehm, in a 1981 book, called Mans "South Africa's outstanding player of the past" and stated that he had won 13 national-level titles from 1939 to 1952.[5]
Horace Lindrum played Mans in South Africa in 1947, and suggested that he make a playing tour of Australia.[6] Mans arrived in Sydney in September 1947, planning to spend the next year and a half touring Australia and New Zealand.[7] At the time, he held the South African record for the highest break, having made one of 104.[7]
Mans later travelled to England and participated in the eight-player 1949/1950 News of the World Snooker Tournament, for which he was seeded 7th; he finished 5th.[1] [8] At the 1950 World Snooker Championship he lost 32–36 to George Chenier; the score was 34–37 after .[1] Mans, whose highest in the match were 54 and 53, had won six successive to recover from 26–34 to 32–34.[1]
He played Joe Davis several times.[5] Journalist and author Ivor Brown watched Mans playing Davis in London, and wrote that "[Mans] has a detached look when not actually concentrating on the shot; he might be musing on the eternal problems of mankind."[9] Lindrum commented in 1959 that "Unfortunately, inconsistency of form has prevented Mans from really hitting the top ranks in world-class play."[10] He was the owner of the St James Clubs snooker hall in Jameston and Springs, Eastern Transvaal.[5] His son Perrie Mans, runner-up at the 1978 World Snooker Championship, learnt to play the game there.[11]