“When George walked into a room – rooms that didn’t know him – by the time he’d hit three balls you could hear a pin drop. When he started hitting balls he didn’t have to say a word. Everybody stopped and started watching him.”
-Paul Thornley

“Nobody, nobody in the world has ever come close to George in both sports (snooker and straight pool). He was a cut above everyone else in his ability, but also in the way he presented himself.”
-Cliff Thorburn

“He put the gentleman atmosphere into the pool room. He projected a class act.”
Kenny Shea

His achievements in the late 1940s brought him to the attention of the British, the world-force in snooker. Englishman Joe Davis, who had retired from competitive play after winning the World Professional Championship 15 times, came to Bermuda for an exhibition match and Chenier was invited to play him. Davis was amazed at Chenier’s skills, his more upright stance, his longer smooth stroke, and his sublime positional play. Davis knew he had met a world-class player, and retired or not, he still dominated the game and he opened the door for Chenier to play in England by acting as his agent. An arrangement that would enable Chenier to play in multiple international tournaments and exhibitions and face the world’s top players including Joe himself and his brother Fred Davis, Horace Lindrum, John Pulman and Walter Donaldson.

Chenier spent 1950 touring England with Joe and Fred Davis. He competed in the 1950 World Snooker Championship beating South African Peter Mans 36-32 in the quarter final played from January 2-7 before losing in the semi-finals 36-24 to defending champion Fred Davis 43-28 in a match held over six days between February 6-11.

On February 3, 1950, Chenier made a break of 144 playing against World Champion Walter Donaldson at Leicester Square Hall in London; it set a world record at the time however, the Billiards and Snooker Control Council (BSCC) refused to ratify the break because it did not take place in the World Professional Championship. Even so, it brought Chenier widespread recognition on the world stage but the failure to have his achievement officially recognized, combined with the fact he was never a fan of the British playing conditions on very heavy cloth, Chenier returned to Canada later that year.

Chenier enjoyed other cue sports and competed in the 1963 World Pocket Billiards (also known as straight pool) Championship in New York City where he shattered another world record. He racked up the first perfect 150 break while playing the reigning World Champion, Irving Crane.

George Chenier was the second Canadian snooker player, after Conrad Stanbury, to travel to England and challenge the world’s best players. His greatest legacy to the world is that his style of play made the British, the world-power in the sport, look differently at their game. Until they met Chenier, the British relied more on accuracy than cue ball control and Chenier’s mastery of positional play changed their approach, and in fact evolved the game of snooker, as this became the technique of choice for the all the who would be champions after him.

His greatest legacy to Canada was that his skills, his achievements and his representation of Canadian excellence on the world stage laid a foundation for the talent that was to come. He gave Canadian snooker respectability and class, something future Canadian stars would carry forward with honour as Canada became a force in world snooker - at one time having three players in the top 8 in the World Professional Rankings.

In 1971 Chenier was honoured by Canada with a posthumous induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Chenier was the first world-class player to use a two-piece cue and one of his cues is on display, along with his tuxedo and a pair of his shoes. He remains one of only two snooker player inductees, the other being 1980 World Champion Cliff Thorburn. Chenier is also a member of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted in the Canadian Snooker Hall of Fame in 1990.