Jim Wych is a two-time national snooker champion, a multi-time provincial champion, former top-16 world ranked professional, snooker and pool commentator, snooker promoter and business owner.

Considerably skilled in sports, Jim Wych attended university on a golf scholarship but it was with snooker he would achieve success in Canadian sport. He started playing snooker at a young age in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta and began competing across the country.

By 1979 he had won the Alberta Amateur Championship for the third year in a row. He was also a Central Canadian Amateur Champion and a Western Canadian Amateur Champion. Later in 1979 he won the first of his two Canadian Amateur Snooker Championships defeating Robert Paquette 10-7 in the final.

In 1980 he turned professional under the auspices of the newly formed Canadian Professional Snooker Association. Wych enjoyed immediate success, reaching the quarter-final of the 1980 World Professional Championship in his debut year before being defeated by fellow Canadian and eventual winner, Cliff Thorburn. He reached the quarter-final of the World Championship again in 1992 but was bested by fourth-seeded Jimmy White. Jim Wych also reached the quarterfinals of the 1986 British Open and the 1989 European Open, both ranking tournaments.

He had notable success in doubles events and reached the finals of the 1991 World Masters Doubles event with fellow western Canadian, Brady Gollan. The Canadian pair was defeated 8-5 by Stephen Hendry and Mike Hallett.

In the 1980s Jim Wych reached the finals of the Canadian Professional Snooker Championship three times – 1980, 1986 and 1988 – losing the first two times to Cliff Thorburn and the third time to Alain Robidoux.

His career-best World Ranking was 17, achieved during the 1980/1981 and 1981/1982 seasons, and he maintained a position in the top-64 players in the world for 15 consecutive seasons.

After his retirement from the professional circuit Wych continued to play competitively in Canada and regained the Canadian Amateur Championship for the second time in 1999, 20 years after his first win.

Even though he retired from professional snooker in 1997, Wych continues to bring acclaim to Canada as a prominent and highly successful figure in the sport. He leveraged the experience gained from decades as a top-ranked competitive snooker to become one of the most respected and highly recognizable voices in the sport as a commentator, notably for TSN and Sky Sports. He continues to have daily involvement with cue-sports as the co-owner of the successful Corner Bank Sports Bar & Grill in Scarborough, Ontario. In 2019 his club was the venue for a snooker exhibition match between England’s Jimmy White, indisputably the best snooker player in the world to never win the World Championship and Scotland’s Stephen Hendry a seven-time World Champion. This marked the first time elite professional players had appeared in Canada since 1988.

Jim Wych’s six-decades of dedication to the visibility and advancement of Canadian snooker earned him a well-deserved place in the Canadian Snooker Hall of Fame in 2022.