Alex Higgins
Encyclopedia
Alexander Gordon "Alex" Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010), also known by his nickname of Hurricane Higgins, was a Northern Irish
professional snooker
player who was twice World Champion and twice runner-up. Higgins earned the nickname The Hurricane because of his speed of play. Higgins was also a former World Doubles champion with Jimmy White
and won the World Cup three times with the All Ireland team. He also came to be known as the People's Champion because of his popularity.
Higgins is often credited to have brought the game of snooker
to a wider audience and contributing to its peak in popularity in the eighties
.
Higgins had a reputation as an unpredictable and difficult character. He was a heavy smoker, struggled with drinking and gambling, and admitted to using cocaine and marijuana. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998, Higgins was found dead in his Belfast home on 24 July 2010.
Alex Higgins was born in Belfast
and had three sisters. He started playing snooker at the age of 11, often in the Jampot club in his native Sandy Row
area of south Belfast and later in the YMCA
in the nearby city centre. At age 14 and weighing seven and a half stones (47.6 kg
), he left for England and a career as a jockey. However, he never made the title because, in his youth days, he drank a lot of Guinness
and ate a lot of chocolate
which made him too heavy to ride competitively. He returned to Belfast and by 1965, aged 16, he had compiled his first maximum break. In 1968 he won the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland Amateur Snooker Championships.
at his first attempt in 1972, against John Spencer
winning 37–32. At age 22, Higgins was then the youngest ever winner of the title, a record retained until Stephen Hendry
's 1990 victory at the age of 21. In April 1976, Higgins reached the final again and faced Ray Reardon
. Higgins led 11–9, but Reardon made four centuries and seven breaks over 60 to pull away and win the title for the fifth time with the score of 27–16. Higgins was also the runner-up to Cliff Thorburn
in 1980, losing 18–16, after being 9–5 up. Higgins won the world title for a second time in 1982 after beating Reardon 18–15 (with a 135 total clearance in the final frame); it was an emotional as well as professional victory for him. Higgins would have been ranked #1 in the world rankings for the 1982/83
season had he not forfeited ranking points following disciplinary action.
0–7 before producing a famous comeback to win 16–15. He also won the Masters
twice, in 1978 and in 1981, beating Cliff Thorburn
and Terry Griffiths
in the finals respectively. Another notable victory was his triumph in the 1989 Irish Masters at the age of 40 when he defeated a young Stephen Hendry
.
On 12 June 2007, it was reported that Higgins had assaulted a referee at a charity match in the north-east of England. Higgins returned to competitive action in September 2007 at the Irish Professional Championship in Dublin but was whitewashed 0–5 by former British Open
champion Fergal O'Brien
in the first round at the Spawell Club, Templelogue.
Higgins continued to play fairly regularly and enjoyed "hustling" all comers for small-time stakes in clubs in Northern Ireland and beyond; in May 2009 he entered the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship, "to give it a crack", but failed to appear for his match.
On 8 April 2010 Higgins was part of the debut Snooker Legends Tour event in Sheffield, at the Crucible; after checking himself out of hospital two days before the event after being admitted with pneumonia and breathing problems. He appeared alongside other retired or close-to-retiring professionals including John Parrott
, Jimmy White, John Virgo
and Cliff Thorburn.
It is estimated that Higgins earned and spent £3–4 million in his career as a snooker player.
considers a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment. In potting the blue, Higgins screwed the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin, a shot Taylor believes could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with cue-ball. He went a little too far for ideal position on his next red but the match-saving break was still alive.
He also drank and smoked during tournaments, as did many of his contemporaries, helping sponsored tobacco advertising. A volatile personality got him into frequent fights and arguments, both on and off the snooker table. One of the most serious of these clashes was when he head-butted a referee at the UK championship in 1986. This led to his being fined £
12,000 and banned from five tournaments. He was convicted of assault and criminal damage, and fined £250 by a court. Another came at the 1990 World Championship; after losing his first-round match to Steve James
, he punched tournament official Colin Randle in the abdomen before the start of a press conference at which he announced his retirement. This, added to his having threatened to have fellow player and compatriot Dennis Taylor shot, led to a ban for the whole of the following season.
In 1975, Higgins' son Chris Delahunty was born. Higgins's first marriage was to Australia
n Cara Hasler in April 1975 in Sydney
. They had a daughter Christel and divorced. His second marriage was to Lynn Avison in 1980 at a United Reformed Church
. They had a daughter Lauren (born late 1980) and son Jordan (born March 1983). They split in 1985 and divorced. In the same year, Higgins began a relationship with Siobhan Kidd, which ended in 1989 after he allegedly hit her with a hairdryer.
He had a long and enduring friendship with Oliver Reed
and was a good friend of Jimmy White
, with whom he often played exhibition matches.
While not normally noted for his philanthropy, in 1983 Higgins helped a young boy from the Manchester area, a fan of his who had been in a coma for two months. His parents were growing desperate and wrote to Higgins. He recorded his voice on a tape and sent it to the boy with his best wishes. He later visited the boy in hospital, unannounced, and promised that if the boy recovered they would play snooker together. True to his word, once the boy was out, the match was held.
In 1996, Higgins was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy, while in 1997 his then girlfriend Holly Haise stabbed him three times during a domestic argument. He published his autobiography, From the Eye of the Hurricane: My Story, in 2007. Higgins appeared on the Sporting Stars episode of British television quiz The Weakest Link
, on 25 July 2009.
in 1994 and 1996. In June 1998, he was found to have throat cancer; on 13 October of that year, he had throat surgery.
In 2009, Higgins lived in a caravan. In spring 2010, he had pneumonia
. In April 2010 Higgins's friends announced that they had set up a campaign to help raise the £20,000 he needed for teeth implants, to enable him to eat properly again and put on weight. Higgins lost his teeth after intensive radiotherapy
used to treat his throat cancer. It was reported that since losing them he had been living on liquid food, and had become increasingly depressed, even contemplating suicide. He was too ill to have the implants fitted. Despite his illness he continued to smoke cigarettes and drink heavily until the end of his life.
At the end of his life, Higgins' weight fell to 6 stones (38.1 kg). He lived in sheltered housing on the Donegall Road
, Belfast
. He was found dead in bed in his flat on 24 July 2010. The cause of death was a combination of malnutrition, pneumonia, a bronchial condition and throat cancer. His children survive him.
, Jimmy White, and Ronnie O'Sullivan
who in an interview stated "Alex was an inspiration to players like Jimmy White
and thousands of snooker players all over the country, including me. The way he played at his best is the way I believe the game should be played. It was on the edge, keeping the crowd entertained and glued to the action."
His very unorthodox yet effective play was perhaps best encapsulated in a celebrated break of 69, made under extreme pressure, against Jimmy White
in the penultimate frame of their World Championship semi-final in 1982. Higgins was 0–59 down in the frame and probably one ball away from exiting the Championship, but managed to compile an extremely challenging clearance during which he was scarcely in position until the colours. In particular, former world champion Dennis Taylor considers a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment. In potting the blue, Higgins the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin, a shot Taylor believes could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with the cue-ball (he arguably went too far for ideal position on his next red but the match-saving break was still alive).
In Clive Everton
's TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002), Steve Davis described Higgins as the "one true genius that snooker has produced", despite the autobiography of a contemporary leading professional Willie Thorne
characterising Higgins as "not a great player". Higgins arguably fulfilled his potential only intermittently during his career peak in the 1970s and '80s; Everton puts this down to Davis and Ray Reardon generally being too consistent for him.
Regardless, Higgins' exciting style and explosive persona helped make snooker a growing television sport in the 1970s and 1980s. Higgins also made one of the first 16-red clearances (in a challenge match in 1976); it was a break of 146 (with the brown as the first "red", and sixteen colours: 1 green, 5 pinks and 10 blacks).
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
professional snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
player who was twice World Champion and twice runner-up. Higgins earned the nickname The Hurricane because of his speed of play. Higgins was also a former World Doubles champion with 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,...
and won the World Cup three times with the All Ireland team. He also came to be known as the People's Champion because of his popularity.
Higgins is often credited to have brought the game of snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
to a wider audience and contributing to its peak in popularity in the eighties
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
.
Higgins had a reputation as an unpredictable and difficult character. He was a heavy smoker, struggled with drinking and gambling, and admitted to using cocaine and marijuana. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998, Higgins was found dead in his Belfast home on 24 July 2010.
Early life
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and had three sisters. He started playing snooker at the age of 11, often in the Jampot club in his native Sandy Row
Sandy Row
Sandy Row is a Protestant working-class community in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It has a population of about 3,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast, being a traditional heartland for affiliation with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and the Orange Order.-Location:Sandy...
area of south Belfast and later in the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
in the nearby city centre. At age 14 and weighing seven and a half stones (47.6 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
), he left for England and a career as a jockey. However, he never made the title because, in his youth days, he drank a lot of Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
and ate a lot of chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
which made him too heavy to ride competitively. He returned to Belfast and by 1965, aged 16, he had compiled his first maximum break. In 1968 he won the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland Amateur Snooker Championships.
World titles
Higgins turned professional at the age of 22, winning the World ChampionshipWorld Snooker Championship
The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...
at his first attempt in 1972, against John Spencer
John Spencer (snooker player)
John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition...
winning 37–32. At age 22, Higgins was then the youngest ever winner of the title, a record retained until Stephen Hendry
Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...
's 1990 victory at the age of 21. In April 1976, Higgins reached the final again and faced Ray Reardon
Ray Reardon
Ray Reardon, MBE is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade...
. Higgins led 11–9, but Reardon made four centuries and seven breaks over 60 to pull away and win the title for the fifth time with the score of 27–16. Higgins was also the runner-up to Cliff Thorburn
Cliff Thorburn
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM, known as Cliff Thorburn is a retired professional Canadian snooker player...
in 1980, losing 18–16, after being 9–5 up. Higgins won the world title for a second time in 1982 after beating Reardon 18–15 (with a 135 total clearance in the final frame); it was an emotional as well as professional victory for him. Higgins would have been ranked #1 in the world rankings for the 1982/83
Snooker world rankings 1982/1983
Snooker world rankings 1982/1983: The professional world rankings for the top 32 snooker players in the 1982/1983 season are listed below.-References:...
season had he not forfeited ranking points following disciplinary action.
Other victories
Throughout his career, Higgins won 20 other titles, one of the most notable being the 1983 UK Championship. In the final he trailed Steve DavisSteve 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...
0–7 before producing a famous comeback to win 16–15. He also won the Masters
Masters (snooker)
The Masters is a professional snooker tournament and the second longest running tournament outside the World Championship. Although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit, earning the second biggest prize money.-History:The tournament was held...
twice, in 1978 and in 1981, beating Cliff Thorburn
Cliff Thorburn
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM, known as Cliff Thorburn is a retired professional Canadian snooker player...
and 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...
in the finals respectively. Another notable victory was his triumph in the 1989 Irish Masters at the age of 40 when he defeated a young Stephen Hendry
Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...
.
Post retirement
After his retirement from the professional game, Higgins spent time playing for small sums of money in and around Northern Ireland. He made appearances in the 2005 and 2006 Irish Professional Championship, these comebacks ending in a first-round defeat by Garry Hardiman and Joe Delaney respectively.On 12 June 2007, it was reported that Higgins had assaulted a referee at a charity match in the north-east of England. Higgins returned to competitive action in September 2007 at the Irish Professional Championship in Dublin but was whitewashed 0–5 by former 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....
champion Fergal O'Brien
Fergal O'Brien
Fergal O'Brien is an Irish professional snooker player. He has won one ranking title and reached two other major finals, and spent three seasons as a top 16 player.-Career:...
in the first round at the Spawell Club, Templelogue.
Higgins continued to play fairly regularly and enjoyed "hustling" all comers for small-time stakes in clubs in Northern Ireland and beyond; in May 2009 he entered the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship, "to give it a crack", but failed to appear for his match.
On 8 April 2010 Higgins was part of the debut Snooker Legends Tour event in Sheffield, at the Crucible; after checking himself out of hospital two days before the event after being admitted with pneumonia and breathing problems. He appeared alongside other retired or close-to-retiring professionals including 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...
, Jimmy White, John Virgo
John Virgo
John Virgo is an English former professional snooker player and more recently a snooker commentator and TV personality.- Career :...
and Cliff Thorburn.
It is estimated that Higgins earned and spent £3–4 million in his career as a snooker player.
Playing style
Higgins's speed around the table, his ability to pot balls at a rapid rate and flamboyant style earned him the nickname "Hurricane Higgins" and made him a very high-profile player. His highly unusual cueing technique sometimes included a body swerve and movement, as well as a stance that was noticeably higher than that of most professionals. This unorthodox play was encapsulated in his break of 69, made under unusual pressure, against Jimmy White in the penultimate frame of their World Professional Snooker Championship semi-final in 1982. Higgins was 0–59 down in that frame, but managed to compile an extremely challenging clearance during which he was scarcely in position until the colours. In particular, former world champion Dennis TaylorDennis 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...
considers a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment. In potting the blue, Higgins screwed the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin, a shot Taylor believes could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with cue-ball. He went a little too far for ideal position on his next red but the match-saving break was still alive.
He also drank and smoked during tournaments, as did many of his contemporaries, helping sponsored tobacco advertising. A volatile personality got him into frequent fights and arguments, both on and off the snooker table. One of the most serious of these clashes was when he head-butted a referee at the UK championship in 1986. This led to his being fined £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
12,000 and banned from five tournaments. He was convicted of assault and criminal damage, and fined £250 by a court. Another came at the 1990 World Championship; after losing his first-round match to Steve James
Steve James (snooker player)
Stephen James is an English professional snooker player.-Career:A former postman, the high point of his career was his sole ranking title – the Mercantile Credit Classic in 1990, beating Australian Warren King 10–6 in the final...
, he punched tournament official Colin Randle in the abdomen before the start of a press conference at which he announced his retirement. This, added to his having threatened to have fellow player and compatriot Dennis Taylor shot, led to a ban for the whole of the following season.
Outside snooker
At the time of his 1972 triumph at the World Championship, Higgins had no permanent home and by his own account had recently lived in a row of abandoned houses in Blackburn which were awaiting demolition. In one week he had moved into five different houses on the same street, moving down one every time his current dwelling was demolished.In 1975, Higgins' son Chris Delahunty was born. Higgins's first marriage was to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Cara Hasler in April 1975 in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. They had a daughter Christel and divorced. His second marriage was to Lynn Avison in 1980 at a United Reformed Church
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
. They had a daughter Lauren (born late 1980) and son Jordan (born March 1983). They split in 1985 and divorced. In the same year, Higgins began a relationship with Siobhan Kidd, which ended in 1989 after he allegedly hit her with a hairdryer.
He had a long and enduring friendship with Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
and was a good friend 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,...
, with whom he often played exhibition matches.
While not normally noted for his philanthropy, in 1983 Higgins helped a young boy from the Manchester area, a fan of his who had been in a coma for two months. His parents were growing desperate and wrote to Higgins. He recorded his voice on a tape and sent it to the boy with his best wishes. He later visited the boy in hospital, unannounced, and promised that if the boy recovered they would play snooker together. True to his word, once the boy was out, the match was held.
In 1996, Higgins was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy, while in 1997 his then girlfriend Holly Haise stabbed him three times during a domestic argument. He published his autobiography, From the Eye of the Hurricane: My Story, in 2007. Higgins appeared on the Sporting Stars episode of British television quiz The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
, on 25 July 2009.
Illness and death
For most of his adult life Higgins often smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day. He had cancerous growths removed from his mouthOral cancer
Oral cancer is a subtype of head and neck cancer, is any cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originating in any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure, such as the...
in 1994 and 1996. In June 1998, he was found to have throat cancer; on 13 October of that year, he had throat surgery.
In 2009, Higgins lived in a caravan. In spring 2010, he had pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. In April 2010 Higgins's friends announced that they had set up a campaign to help raise the £20,000 he needed for teeth implants, to enable him to eat properly again and put on weight. Higgins lost his teeth after intensive radiotherapy
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
used to treat his throat cancer. It was reported that since losing them he had been living on liquid food, and had become increasingly depressed, even contemplating suicide. He was too ill to have the implants fitted. Despite his illness he continued to smoke cigarettes and drink heavily until the end of his life.
At the end of his life, Higgins' weight fell to 6 stones (38.1 kg). He lived in sheltered housing on the Donegall Road
Donegall Road
The Donegall Road runs from Shaftesbury Square in Belfast city centre to the Falls Road in west Belfast. It is bisected by the Westlink, and the largest part of the road, prior to the Westlink junction, is predominantly unionist...
, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. He was found dead in bed in his flat on 24 July 2010. The cause of death was a combination of malnutrition, pneumonia, a bronchial condition and throat cancer. His children survive him.
Legacy
Higgins was an inspiration to many subsequent professional snooker players including Ken DohertyKen Doherty
Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player. He is the only player ever to have been world amateur and world professional champion...
, Jimmy White, and 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...
who in an interview stated "Alex was an inspiration to players like 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,...
and thousands of snooker players all over the country, including me. The way he played at his best is the way I believe the game should be played. It was on the edge, keeping the crowd entertained and glued to the action."
His very unorthodox yet effective play was perhaps best encapsulated in a celebrated break of 69, made under extreme pressure, against 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 the penultimate frame of their World Championship semi-final in 1982. Higgins was 0–59 down in the frame and probably one ball away from exiting the Championship, but managed to compile an extremely challenging clearance during which he was scarcely in position until the colours. In particular, former world champion Dennis Taylor considers a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment. In potting the blue, Higgins the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin, a shot Taylor believes could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with the cue-ball (he arguably went too far for ideal position on his next red but the match-saving break was still alive).
In Clive Everton
Clive Everton
Clive Everton , is a Welsh veteran BBC snooker commentator, journalist and author. He began his BBC career on the radio, but has been commentating on the television from the 1978 World Championship through to the present...
's TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002), Steve Davis described Higgins as the "one true genius that snooker has produced", despite the autobiography of a contemporary leading professional 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...
characterising Higgins as "not a great player". Higgins arguably fulfilled his potential only intermittently during his career peak in the 1970s and '80s; Everton puts this down to Davis and Ray Reardon generally being too consistent for him.
Regardless, Higgins' exciting style and explosive persona helped make snooker a growing television sport in the 1970s and 1980s. Higgins also made one of the first 16-red clearances (in a challenge match in 1976); it was a break of 146 (with the brown as the first "red", and sixteen colours: 1 green, 5 pinks and 10 blacks).
Performance timeline
| Tournament | 1971/ 72 |
1972/ 73 |
1973/ 74 |
1974/ 75 |
1975/ 76 |
1976/ 77 |
1977/ 78 |
1978/ 79 |
1979/ 80 |
1980/ 81 |
1981/ 82 |
1982/ 83 |
1983/ 84 |
1984/ 85 |
1985/ 86 |
1986/ 87 |
1987/ 88 |
1988/ 89 |
1989/ 90 |
1990/ 91 |
1991/ 92 |
1992/ 93 |
1993/ 94 |
1994/ 95 |
1995/ 96 |
1996/ 97 |
1997/ 98 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Championship UK Championship (snooker) The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is the second biggest ranking tournament after the World Championship and is one of the Triple Crown events.-History:... |
NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | SF | SF | QF | F | QF | F | W | F | 2R | SF | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ |
| The Masters Masters (snooker) The Masters is a professional snooker tournament and the second longest running tournament outside the World Championship. Although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit, earning the second biggest prize money.-History:The tournament was held... |
NH | NH | NH | QF | QF | SF | W | F | F | W | SF | 1R | QF | QF | 1R | F | QF | A | WR | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | A |
| W | SF | QF | SF | F | 1R | 1R | QF | F | 2R | W | SF | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | LQ | 1R | A | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | A |
| Performance Table Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round) |
| QF | advanced to but not past the quarterfinals | SF | advanced to but not past the semifinals |
| F | advanced to the final, tournament runner-up | W | won the tournament |
| NH | event was not held | A | did not participate in the tournament |
Non-ranking wins
- World ChampionshipWorld Snooker ChampionshipThe World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...
– 1972The World Championship did not become a ranking event until 1974 - Irish Professional Championship – 1972, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1989
- Men of the Midlands – 1972, 1973
- Watney Open – 1974
- Canadian Open – 1975, 1977
- Canadian Club Masters – 1976
- Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament – 1977
- MastersMasters (snooker)The Masters is a professional snooker tournament and the second longest running tournament outside the World Championship. Although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit, earning the second biggest prize money.-History:The tournament was held...
– 1978, 1981 - Tolly Cobbold ClassicTolly Cobbold ClassicThe Tolly Cobbold Classic was a non-ranking snooker tournament staged between 1979 and 1984. It was held at the Corn Exchange in Ipswich and sponsored by local brewers Tolly Cobbold...
– 1979, 1980 - British Gold CupBritish 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....
– 1980 - Padmore/Super Crystalate International – 1980
- UK ChampionshipUK Championship (snooker)The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is the second biggest ranking tournament after the World Championship and is one of the Triple Crown events.-History:...
– 1983The UK Championship did not become a ranking event until 1984 - Irish Masters – 1989
Team wins
- World Doubles Championship – 1984 (with Jimmy WhiteJimmy WhiteJames 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,...
) - World Cup – 1985, 1986, 1987 with All Ireland team
Amateur wins
- All Ireland Amateur Championship – 1968
- Northern Ireland Amateur Championship – 1968