Career

Meo was a schoolfriend of Jimmy White

Jimmy White

James Warren "Jimmy" White MBE is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind" and popularly referred to as the "People's Champion", White is a multiple World Championship finalist renowned for losing each of the six finals he contested.White's extensive list of achievements,...

 in Tooting

Tooting

Tooting is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

, and the pair regularly skipped school to play snooker together. At 17 Meo became the then youngest person known to have made a maximum break of 147, the record standing until Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan , is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style and nicknamed "The Rocket". He has been World Champion on three occasions , and is second on the all-time prize-money list, with career earnings of over £6 million, behind only Stephen...

 broke it. He turned professional in 1979.

In 1984, Meo reached the final of the Lada Classic, facing world number one Steve Davis

Steve Davis

Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...

. The match went to the deciding frame, and Meo only needed to clear the colours to win the title, but missed after being distracted by a shout of encouragement from a spectator. Davis went on to win the frame and match, and used his winning speech to call for an audience ban on alcohol

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

.

As part of a doubles partnership with Davis, Meo won four World Doubles titles, and was also part of the victorious England team at the 1983 World Team Classic. His only ranking title came at the 1989 British Open

British Open (snooker)

The British Open was a professional snooker tournament. It was a ranking tournament from 1985. The tournament has not been held since the 2004/2005 season....

, beating Dean Reynolds

Dean Reynolds

Dean Reynolds is an English professional snooker player.-Career:Before turning professional, Reynolds won the first-ever Junior Pot Black in 1981, beating Dene O'Kane, another future professional, with a 2- aggregate score of 151–79.He twice reached a ranking tournament final, but lost both times,...

 13–6 after beginning the tournament as a 200–1 outsider. In the same year, he reached the semi-final of the World Championship, losing 16–7 to John Parrott

John Parrott

John Parrott MBE is an English professional snooker player and TV personality.He won the World Snooker Championship in 1991, defeating Jimmy White in the final. Two years earlier he had lost 3–18 to Steve Davis, the heaviest final defeat in modern times...

.

In 1986, Meo was one of five players under Barry Hearn

Barry Hearn

Barry Hearn is an English sporting events promoter, and the founder and chairman of promotions company Matchroom Sport. He is currently the chairman of Leyton Orient F.C., and the Professional Darts Corporation and was also until July 2010 chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker...

's management (along with Davis, Terry Griffiths

Terry Griffiths

Terrence "Terry" Griffiths OBE is a retired Welsh snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. He won the World Championship in 1979 at the first attempt, and reached the 1988 final. He also won the Masters in 1980 and the UK Championship in 1982, making him one of seven players to have...

, Willie Thorne

Willie Thorne

William Joseph "Willie" Thorne , is a former English professional snooker player and now a sports commentator.Thorne became national under-16 champion at both snooker and English billiards in 1970...

 and Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor is a retired snooker player, and current BBC snooker commentator. Winner of two ranking events, he is best known for winning the 1985 World Championship, beating World number one Steve Davis on the final black in one of the sport's most memorable finals...

) who appeared on "Snooker Loopy

Snooker Loopy

"Snooker Loopy" is a humorous song which was released as a single in May 1986 and entered the UK Singles Chart, reaching #6. It was written and performed by Chas & Dave and featured snooker players Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor, Willie Thorne, Terry Griffiths and Tony Meo, as backing vocalists under...

", a hit single about the game recorded by Chas and Dave

Chas and Dave

Chas & Dave are an English pop rock duo, most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled "rockney", which mixes "pub singalong, music-hall humour, boogie-woogie piano and pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll"...

.

Slipping badly down the rankings, Meo retired from professional snooker in 1997.

Non-ranking

• Australian Masters (1981, 1985)
• English Professional Championship (1986, 1987)
• Matchroom International League (1990)

Team events

• Hofmeister World Doubles
  World Doubles Championship (snooker)
  The World Doubles Championship, also known as the Hofmeister World Doubles or the Fosters World Doubles for sponsorship purposes, was a non-ranking professional snooker tournament held from 1982 to 1987 as the major event....
  
   (1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 – all with Steve Davis
  Steve Davis
  Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...
  
  )
• World Team Classic (1983 – with team England)