Snooker legend Alex Higgins passes away
Two-time world champion Alex Higgins passed away on Saturday at the age of 61 after 12 hard-fought years battling against throat cancer.
Born in Belfast, “Hurricane” Higgins burst onto the professional circuit at the age of 22, and won his first world championship at his first attempt in 1972, beating John Spencer 37-31 in the final. His quick style of play accompanied with flair and flamboyancy around the table caught the eye of the public, who were seeing someone different to the traditional snooker player.
With an unorthodox technique, Higgins revolutionised snooker throughout the 1980s, packing out audiences whenever he played and making the sport extremely popular. In 1982, he would beat Ray Reardon 18-15 in the world championship final at the Crucible, lifting his second world title.
His life was plagued with controversy both on and off the snooker table. He once punched a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) official, head-butted a tournament director and threatened to have fellow Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor shot. As well as a heavy drinker and smoker, and an excessive gambler, he had divorces from two women, Lynn and Cara, and was stopped from seeing his two children Lauren and Jordan.
Towards the end, Higgins’ health rapidly deteriorated. He only weighed around six stone, and resorted to eating baby food because he had no teeth. Money had been raised so he could have teeth implants, but that will now be used to pay for Higgins’ funeral.
WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn said: “He was one of snooker's great champions and one of its great characters. He did so much to make snooker popular and drag it out of the doldrums in the early 1970s. He didn't always see eye-to-eye with the authorities, but there is no doubt that the sport owes him for where it is today. He will be sadly missed by the players who knew him and of course his friends and family.”
Higgins beat Jimmy White in the semi-finals 16-15 en route to his second world crown, and produced one of the greatest breaks in snooker history, a 69 clearance when he was 15-14 down and the score at 59-0. The passing of a snooker great has saddened White. “I was crying all yesterday [on Saturday]. I'm absolutely devastated. I was in awe of him. I didn't always agree with what he did but I loved him. I have lost a friend and I will remember him forever. Alex took snooker in the 1970s to the heights which it reached in the 1980s - that was all down to him.”
Even though Taylor felt the full force of one of Higgins’ diatribes, he insists all is in the past. “The argument between us is history now. We had a lot of good times together as well. Alex and I go back many years. We are virtually the same age so we came up through the snooker ranks together. Alex was a complete one-off, a special talent. There will never be another Alex Higgins.”
Three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan revealed the reason why he picked up a snooker cue was because of the Hurricane. “Alex Higgins was one of the real inspirations behind me getting into snooker. He is a true legend and should be forever remembered as being the finest ever snooker player.”
Steve Davis felt Higgins was “a breath of fresh air” which brought the public to watch snooker. “To people in the game he was a constant source of argument, he was a rebel. He was an inspiration to my generation to take the game up. I do not think his contribution to snooker can be underestimated. He was quite a fierce competitor - he lived and breathed the game, very much a fighter on the table.”
The original “People’s champion” , Hurricane Higgins has left his mark on the green baize.
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