Everybody in the Gamedesire online pool community was shocked and very saddened to hear about the passing of Roy on Tuesday 4th July 2017. He was one of the most influential and popular characters in the development of online pool competitions over the past 14 years or so.
At times a brash, no-nonsense individual, this likeable Australian had a great sense of humour and considerable wit. Roy was an immensely knowledgeable guy and having served in the Australian Merchant Navy, he was very proud to share his naval experiences with anyone keen to listen.
Roy was the founder of UIC (the Universal Interleague Competition) in 2005, a 5-v-5 competition which he ran for 18 seasons until its demise when Yahoo Pool closed a few years ago. He was instrumental in setting up UIC Swiss with Julie in 2007, which you can read about below. Without his immeasurable contribution and continued involvement over the years, UIC Swiss would not have come this far.
Roy had a long online pool playing career and was Head Admin in Straightshots starting in March 2003 before handing over the leadership in June 2003. When UIC first commenced two years later, it was Roy who captained SS to the Season 1 Premiership championship after winning the Regular title in the same season. Prior to that, he led SS to four titles in MLP (Major League Pool) including the main World Series in Season 2 (April 2004).
When he left SS in 2005, Roy set up a breakaway league named XSS United (Xtreme Straightshots) which thrived for quite a while. He then started up a new league called Deadstrokes (I'm not sure of the year) and remained at the helm until his passing. DS became a big name in interleague pool, winning a variety of trophies along the way.
After the close of the Yahoo Pool parlour game, there was a period of stagnation until pool restarted in Pogo before settling in Gamedesire. In August 2014, after seven years at the helm, Roy decided to hand UIC Swiss to me who had been an Admin for several seasons. With the intention of resuming the competition in October 2014 (almost a year on from when Season 12 finished), it was decided to switch UIC Swiss to a new gaming site, namely Gamedesire. DS stayed in Pogo for a while until Roy made the decision to join other leagues already playing in Gamedesire.
Despite stepping down as HA of UIC Swiss, Roy remained as an admin and continued to do the Swiss standings right up to Week 7 of Season 21. His record as a player in UIC Swiss was quite impressive – he finished runners-up in the Individual competition twice and was in third place on no less than five occasions, including four times in a row between Seasons 9 to 12 inclusive. Roy was a very consistent player who was unlucky not to have won the Individual title at least twice. He played his last tournament on Friday 30th June, getting a 3-2 in the 11pm. Roy also ran UIC Snooker for a couple of seasons about a year or so ago.
As a tribute to Roy, his ID has been left in UIC Swiss as 'Judge1_RIP_Roy'. His UIC Swiss record was 794 wins and 635 losses, giving a win average of 55.563%.
In his personal life, Roy was married twice and had two daughters, Siobhan and Sharon. After leaving his daughter's home, he moved into a constructed apartment where he lived on his own for the last year or so. Sadly Roy was a heavy smoker which left him with a serious lung disorder. He suffered a few falls and apparently it was another fall on 3rd July which was to prove fatal.
Roy has left our world having devoted considerable time and effort into making UIC Swiss what we see today. He leaves the legacy of a comprehensive and informative website and, although interleague competition has declined compared to what it used to be, UIC Swiss still thrives thanks primarily to Roy's dedication and enthusiasm for so long.
I personally enjoyed many long chats on Skype with Roy over the years and miss the interaction with him. He was the Head Admin in one of my first leagues, namely XSS. Although I had not always seen eye to eye with him, generally speaking we did work together well, writing the rules for numerous interleague competitions, creating website design and formatting, and discussing many an aspect regarding pool management and organisation.
Our pool community will be a poorer place without Roy's familiar 'The court is now in session – all rise' welcomes in the UIC Swiss lobby, let alone his knowledge and humour. A larger than life character in our pool lives, Roy will be sorely missed. We all express our sincerest condolences to his daughters and family (I have done this on behalf of us all on Siobhan's Facebook timeline).
Roy Sheppard – aka ds_judge1 – may you rest in everlasting peace.
Nigel
