“When Eddy was a young man, his schooling in history left him with an admiration for the Agha Khan. Consequently, he became known as Agha, the Agha and Atomic Eddy Agha. When the Agha was in stroke, many players may have preferred Agha Khan and his Mongol horde at the gates rather than Eddy Agha at the table”
-Paul Meaney, feature writer, Chalk and Cue Magazine.

Eddy Agha, born Eddy Zabartany, and known as “Atomic Eddy Agha” for his lightning-fast playing style, was a legendary pioneer of Canadian snooker and one of snooker’s most gifted and exciting players.

He began playing in his father’s pool room on Boulevard St. Laurent in Montreal. Even as a grown man Agha was diminutive in stature but at the age of 11 when he began playing snooker he had to stand on a Coca-Cola crate to reach the table. In 1925 at age 18 he won his first two amateur tournaments at the famous Laval Snooker Hall in Montreal, one of which was the Montreal City Championship. He would also go on to win the Quebec Provincial Championship.

He was known for his exceptional positional play, break building and table clearance skills. In the 1960s he made two maximum 147 breaks and over his career he made thousands of centuries. Perhaps the skill that served him best was his innate ability to achieve a high level of performance in varying and sometimes far from ideal conditions; something that was incredibly useful in the early days when match conditions were very different to the precise settings they are today.

He toured Canada with George Chenier from 1948 until Chenier’s death in 1970. This was Agha in his best years and anyone who had the privilege to witness these famous duels could not deny that Agha was an immense talent. Chenier was the dominant player in Canada, without a close rival, the sole exception being Agha. Even the great Leo Levitt, the first man in the world to make a maximum 147 break, was no match for Chenier. Chenier-Agha duels were legendary. It was a spellbinding contrast: Chenier was cool and methodical and Agha was flamboyant and intuitive. Eddy Agha was the opponent for George Chenier’s final North American Championship win in 1970.

At the time Agha was in his prime playing years the Canadian public was not particularly knowledgeable about the strategic aspects of snooker but they understood potting balls, something the sport shared with its better-known related sport, American pool. As a result, great tactical players could easily fail to engage an audience because the audience lacked the knowledge to appreciate these skills. But Agha played aggressive by nature; he hated playing safe, tactical snooker and this signature style made him a natural crowd-pleaser. Agha often chose the higher risk shot and while me may not have always succeeded with the shot, he never failed to captivate the spectators. One record that is yet to be broken was set in a match against Robert Paquette’s brother, Jacques, when Agha won 4-0 by running four consecutive century breaks in four frames - 139, 128, 132 and 139 - for a total of 538 points in only 44 minutes.

Agha played at a high level for an extraordinary amount of time. In the mid 1970s through to 1980 Agha appeared at the Canadian Open, an international tournament held at the Canadian National Exhibition that included the top 16 players in the world. Agha enjoyed significant success even though he was already a senior by that time. Agha reached the last 16 in 1976 by defeating four-time North American snooker champion Bill Werbeniuk 5-1 when Werbiniuk was ranked in the top-10 in the world professionally. And in 1980 he reached the last 16 defeating Alf Micallef 5-2, Greg Forsythe 5-0, and Bruce Gutcher 5-2, before scoring a decisive victory over the young future World Number Two, Tony Knowles 9-3.

Agha was also a talented showman. At the Canadian Open he had thousands of fans on the edge of their seats entertained with his unrivalled repertoire of trick shots. He was there daily, filling in between the matches and thrilling crowds. The Canadian National Exhibition draws huge and diverse crowds and even people who were not interested in snooker matches became interested in him. He was mesmerizing. For those years he was the “spirit animal” of that prestigious tournament, tirelessly interacting with the crowd, answering questions, demonstrating shots and entertaining. He was a symbol of Canadian snooker mastery. And it was common place to see the world’s top snooker players standing watching him, a marvel they had heard about only in legend but until then, never seen live.

Eddy Agha was one of the great ambassadors for early snooker in Canada. He influenced countless young players and drew attention to the sport through his exceptional play, showmanship and sportsmanship. Agha refused to play in the World Championships because he declined to fly and as a result was never ranked as a professional yet he remains a player of singular distinction for his contributions to the history and advancement of Canadian snooker. He was inducted into the Canadian Snooker Hall of Fame in 1990.