Francis "Frank" Jonik (2 December 1957 – 31 March 2019) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player.

Career

Born in 1957, Jonik first played competitive snooker in 1978 at the Canadian Professional Championship, and turned professional in 1979. After several seasons on the tour, Jonik reached the last 32 at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, defeating Welshman

Doug Mountjoy Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the ...

5–3 in his last-64 match before being whitewashed 5–0 by

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles Cham ...

. Starting the 1983/1984 season ranked 45th, Jonik reached the final of the non-ranking

Canadian Professional Championship The Canadian Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament which was open only for Canadian players. History The championship was first played unofficially in 1974 with Cliff Thorburn winning the title. The first official Cana ...

that year, beating

Bob Chaperon Robert Chaperon (born 18 May 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian retired professional snooker and billiards player. Career Chaperon was born on 18 May 1958. He played snooker on the professional tour from 1984 to 1995, and in the 1998/99, 2000/01, 200 ...

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and

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

to set up an encounter with

Kirk Stevens Kirk Stevens (born August 17, 1958) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Stevens started playing young, achieving his first aged just 12. He turned professional aged 20, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship ...

. Their match went to a deciding frame, in which Stevens prevailed to win the final, 9–8, and the tournament. In the 1984/1985 season, Jonik defeated Jack McLaughlin 6–2 in the British Open, facing the veteran John Spencer in the last 64. Although Jonik came close to winning the third frame before a 61 break by Spencer, the three-time World Champion was consummate in beating him 6–0. Jonik's form in the following several seasons was poor; in the 1987 Classic, he overcame Steve James 5–4 and

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

5–2 before exiting at the last-64 stage, 4–5 to

Barry West Barry West (24 October 1958 – 15 December 2022) was an English professional snooker player. Biography West was born on 24 October 1958, and became a professional snooker player in 1985. He reached the last 32 of a ranking tournament on fift ...

. During the 1988/1989 season, Jonik played only in that year's Canadian Professional Championship; entering at the quarter-final stage after his opponent Gino Rigitano's withdrawal, he played Thorburn in his first match, leading 4–2 but losing 4–6. The match against Thorburn was Jonik's last at competitive level. He did not play at all the following season and was relegated from the tour, ranked 127th, at its conclusion in 1990.

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonik, Frank Canadian snooker players 1957 births 2019 deaths