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Ray Reardon enjoyed a stratospheric rise to fame when he burst onto the snooker scene in the 1970s.
But during one of the highlights of his career, the sports legend had the support of not one, but two women.
This afternoon, Ray’s second wife Carol confirmed that the six-time world snooker champion had passed away at the age of 91 from cancer.
However, the couple, who were married for 37 years, didn’t have the most conventional start to their relationship.
The couple first met in 1977, when Ray was still married to his first wife, Sue, with whom he had two children.
Pictured: Ray Reardon with his first wife Sue, who previously worked as a ceramics painter, and their children Darren and Melanie.
Pictured: Ray Reardon with his second wife Carol. The couple are said to have met in 1977, when Ray was still married to his first wife.
That year, Ray lost the world title for the first time in five years, but secured his title again the following year.
Here FEMAIL delves into the forgotten scandal that tarnished the Welshman’s image as a family man.
Near-death experience and support from first wife
When Ray was just 24, the Tredegar snooker legend was involved in a near-fatal mining accident.
The sports star had dropped out of Georgetown High School at 14 and briefly worked as an apprentice motor mechanic.
He then followed his father Ben into the mines of Wales before moving to North Staffordshire in 1956 to work at Florence Colliery.
The following year, the future world champion of tacos was building a pit road when a “thread of dirt” fell on his helmet.
Sensing danger, he threw himself down and when a 12-foot beam collapsed along with a deluge of debris, Reardon was trapped.
Pictured: Ray and Sue Reardon pose with their OBE outside Buckingham Palace in 1985, the same year the snooker star left his wife for Carol Covington.
He was rescued after three hours, and Reardon drew on memories of playing marbles with his brother Ron, 17 years his junior, to keep from panicking.
In his 1982 autobiography, Reardon recalled: ‘My ordeal had left me looking and feeling a bit like a dirty dishcloth and as the blood began to rush through my numb legs I screamed in pain for a moment or two but was given sips of water and was soon fine.’
According to the Press Association, Ray met his first wife, Sue, shortly afterwards, and the ceramic painter reportedly urged him to give up his life-threatening job.
Two years after the Florence coal mine accident, Ray and Sue were married on Easter Monday and the snooker legend joined the Stoke-on-Trent police force in 1960.
In 1965, the couple welcomed their son Darren, just a year after Ray won the English Amateur Championship.
With the support of his wife, Ray took up snooker professionally and won the BBC Pot Black tournament in 1969, the same year they welcomed their daughter Melanie.
Eight years of romance with Carol
In the 1970s, Ray (pictured) became one of the world’s top snooker players and was given the nickname “Dracula”.
Susan Reardon pictured after the snooker legend left her marriage in 1985. The couple had two children.
In the 1970s, Ray became one of the world’s top snooker players and was nicknamed “Dracula” after the outfit he wore at the 1974 World Championship in Manchester.
Stoke-based Marsden’s Tailors sponsored Reardon and he appeared dressed in a cloak, top hat and scarlet silk jacket.
“Someone decided the outfit made me look like Dracula and that name stuck with me more than most,” Reardon later said.
Ray is believed to have met his second wife, Carol, around 1977, the year his world title streak was broken. The couple never revealed the circumstances under which they met or what Carol was working on at the time.
The couple embarked on a romance that lasted eight years, resulting in Ray eventually leaving Sue in 1985 to live with Carol.
That same year, the couple posed for a series of happy family photographs with Darren and Melanie outside Buckingham Palace as the snooker player was awarded an OBE.
In an attempt to contain the growing scandal, the snooker player told the Daily Mirror at the time that his first wife had been “fully informed” of his affair before he left.
Withdrawing from the spotlight
Snooker legend Ray Reardon has died aged 91 after a battle with cancer, his wife Carol confirmed today.
After news of Ray’s romance became public, the snooker star and Carol posed together for a photo shoot at her home before declining to speak again about their relationship.
The couple married in June 1987 in a low-key ceremony at Paignton Town Hall.
Ray retired from the sport in 1991 and the couple lived in Devon for the rest of Ray’s life, while the former sports star served as chairman of Churston Golf Club.
In 2004, he teamed up with Ronnie O’Sullivan as a mentor at the World Championships and helped guide Rocket to his second world title. He had received a call from O’Sullivan’s jailed father, Ronnie snr, to encourage the union.
Today’s sad announcement was the first time Carol Reardon had spoken publicly about her husband in decades.
A statement on the WST’s official website said: ‘Ray Reardon, widely regarded as one of the greatest snooker players of all time and a six-time world champion, has died at the age of 91.’
Jimmy White told X: ‘I’m heartbroken to hear that my very good friend Ray Reardon has passed away.
“A very classy guy and very kind to me when I was just starting out in the game. A giant of the game. Rest in peace, my friend.”
Piers Morgan posted: “Sad news. A brilliant player and a very classy gentleman. Rest in peace.”
Fellow Welshman and three-time world champion Mark Williams told the World Snooker Tour’s official website: “Ray is one of Wales’ greatest sportsmen and the greatest snooker player. He’s one of the reasons so many of us took up snooker.
“He put snooker on the map, along with Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Steve Davis. Everyone playing now owes a lot to him because he brought popularity to the game. He’s a real inspiration.”
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