John Dunning (18 April 1927[1] – 11 September 2009[2]) was an English professional snooker player from Morley, West Yorkshire.

[2] Having been Yorkshire amateur champion on eleven occasions, and the CIU Championship in 1963, 1966 and 1969, Dunning turned professional in 1971 at the age of 45.

He played his first World Championship match in 1972, when he lost to John Pulman in the first round, after beating Pat Houlihan and Graham Miles in qualifying.

The tournament, played on a three-man-group round-robin basis, saw Dunning start as a 7–1 outsider to qualify from his first group.

He beat Tony Knowles 2–1 in the opening game, he became favourite, before comfortably winning his next match against Les Dodd.