Alex Higgins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Alex Higgins

Higgins in 1968
Born	(1949-03-18)18 March 1949 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	24 July 2010(2010-07-24) (aged 61) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Sport country	Northern Ireland
Nickname	Hurricane
Professional	1971–1997
Highest ranking	2 (1976/77 and 1982/83)
Tournament wins
Ranking	1
World Champion	1972 1982

Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time World Snooker Champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his rapid style of play, he defeated John Spencer in the 1972 World Snooker Championship final to become the first qualifier to win the world title, a feat that only two other players—Terry Griffiths in 1979 and Shaun Murphy in 2005—have achieved since. Aged 22, he was then the sport's youngest world champion, a record he held until 21-year-old Stephen Hendry won the title in 1990. Higgins was runner-up in the world championships of 1976 and 1980 before defeating Ray Reardon in the 1982 final to win his second world title ten years after his first. Having won the Masters in 1978 and 1981, he completed his career Triple Crown at the 1983 UK Championship, where he recovered from 0–7 behind to defeat Steve Davis 16–15 in the final. Higgins won the World Doubles Championship with Jimmy White in 1984 and played with Dennis Taylor and Eugene Hughes on the all-Ireland team that won the World Cup three consecutive times from 1985–87. He won his last professional title at the 1989 Irish Masters, defeating Hendry 9–8 in the final.

Known as the "People's Champion" because of his popularity and charisma, Higgins is often credited as a key factor in snooker's success as a mainstream televised sport in the 1980s. He is also remembered for his turbulent lifestyle. A lifelong heavy smoker, he struggled with drinking and gambling, and had tumultuous relationships with his two ex-wives and a number of other girlfriends. Known as an unpredictable and difficult character, he was often disciplined by the sport's governing body, which most notably fined him £12,000 and banned him for five tournaments in 1986 after he head-butted an official, and banned him again for the entire 1990–91 season after he punched another official and threatened to have Taylor shot. Higgins retired from the professional tour in 1997. Diagnosed with throat cancer the following year, he died of multiple causes in his Belfast home on 24 July 2010, aged 61. Despite earning an estimated £4 million over the course of his career, Higgins in his final years was reported to be penniless and living on a social welfare allowance.

Life and career

Early life

Higgins (right) with David Taylor at an exhibition at Queen's University Belfast, 1968

Alex Higgins was born in Belfast on 18 March 1949. 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, he left for England and a career as a jockey. However, he never made the grade because he was 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 Northern Ireland Amateur Snooker Championship, by defeating Maurice Gill 4–1 in the final. In doing so he broke two records - he was the first player to win the tournament at his first appearance and, aged 18, became the youngest winner of the tournament. One week later, he won the All-Ireland Amateur Championship, defeating Gerry Hanway of Inchicore 4–1 in the final at Mountpottinger YMCA. The following year he lost his Northern Ireland Amateur crown, losing 0–4 to Dessie Anderson in the 1969 final.

World titles

Higgins turned professional at the age of 22, winning the World Championship at his first attempt in 1972, beating John Spencer 37–31. Higgins was the youngest-ever winner of the title, a record he held 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 10–9 but faded over the stretch. In a match marred by erratic refereeing and a sub-standard table, Reardon nevertheless pulled away to win the title for the fifth time, with the score finishing at 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 No. 1 in the world rankings for the 1982/83 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 Davis 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 (a man who, at one point, floored Higgins with one swift punch ) and Terry Griffiths in the finals respectively. Another notable victory was his final professional triumph in the 1989 Irish Masters at the age of 40 when he defeated a young Stephen Hendry. This was the last professional tournament he won, and is often referred to as "The Hurricane's Last Hurrah".

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 first-round defeats 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 champion Fergal O'Brien in the first round at the Spawell Club, Templeogue.

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, 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. Appearing alongside other retired or close-to-retiring professionals, including John Parrott, Jimmy White, John Virgo and Cliff Thorburn, he faced Thorburn in his match, but lost 2–0.

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.

The unorthodox play of Higgins was encapsulated in his break of 69, made under extreme 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 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 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.

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 was born. Higgins's first marriage was to Cara Hasler in April 1975 in Sydney. They had a daughter Christel and divorced. His second marriage was to Lynn Avison in 1980. 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.

Higgins had a long and enduring friendship with Oliver Reed.

Higgins was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Pot Black Club in London.

In 1983 Higgins helped a young boy from Manchester, a fan of his who had been in a coma for two months. His parents were growing desperate and wrote to Higgins. He recorded messages on tape and sent them to the boy with his best wishes. He later visited the boy in hospital and played a snooker match he promised to have with him when he recovered.

He published his autobiography, From the Eye of the Hurricane: My Story, in 2007. Higgins appeared in the Sporting Stars edition of the British television quiz The Weakest Link on 25 July 2009.

Illness and death

For many years, Higgins smoked heavily. He reportedly smoked 80 cigarettes a day. He had cancerous growths removed from his mouth in 1994 and 1996. In June 1998, he was found to have throat cancer; on 13 October of that year, he had major surgery. He could only talk in a whisper in his last years.

In early 2010 he suffered from pneumonia and breathing problems, and on 31 March he was admitted to hospital. In April 2010 Higgins' 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 had 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. He was too ill and frail to have the implants fitted. He was admitted to hospital again in May.

By the summer of 2010, Higgins' weight had fallen to 6 stone (38 kilograms). Despite having once been worth £4 million, he was bankrupt and survived on a £200-a-week disability allowance. He was found dead in bed in his flat on 24 July 2010. The cause of death was a combination of malnutrition, pneumonia, tooth decay and a bronchial condition, although his daughter Lauren stated that he was clear from throat cancer when he died. His children survived him.

Higgins' funeral service was held at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, on 2 August 2010. He was buried in Carnmoney Cemetery in Newtownabbey, County Antrim. Among the snooker professionals in attendance were Jimmy White, Willie Thorne, Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Joe Swail, Shaun Murphy and John Virgo. Doherty and White were pall bearers.

Legacy

Mural of Higgins at the Royal Bar, Belfast

Alex Higgins was an inspiration to many subsequent professional snooker players, including Ken Doherty, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan. In Clive Everton's TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002), Steve Davis described Higgins as the "one true genius that snooker has produced", although the autobiography of a contemporary leading professional Willie Thorne characterised 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. O'Sullivan has called Higgins "the greatest snooker player I have ever seen" when he was playing at his best, while also acknowledging that Higgins's erratic lifestyle led to a lack of consistency on the table.

Regardless, Higgins' exciting style and explosive persona helped make snooker a growing television sport in the 1970s and 1980s. Higgins also made the first 16-red clearance (in a challenge match in 1976); it was a break of 146 (with the brown as the first "red", and 16 colours: 1 green, 5 pinks and 10 blacks).

In 2011, Event 8 of the Players Tour Championship was renamed as the Alex Higgins International Trophy. In 2016, WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn announced that the trophy for the new Northern Ireland Open tournament would be named after Higgins.

Higgins' professional rivalry with Steve Davis was portrayed in a 2016 BBC feature film entitled The Rack Pack, in which he was played by Luke Treadaway.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 6 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1976	World Championship	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	16–27
Runner-up	2.	1980	World Championship (2)	Thorburn, CliffCliff Thorburn	16–18
Winner	1.	1982	World Championship (2)	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	18–15
Runner-up	3.	1984	UK Championship (3)	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	8–16
Runner-up	4.	1988	Grand Prix	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	6–10
Runner-up	5.	1990	British Open	Chaperon, BobBob Chaperon	8–10

Non-ranking finals: 51 (24 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score	Ref.
Winner	1.	1972	Men of the Midlands	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	4–2
Winner	2.	1972	Irish Professional Championship	Rea, JackieJackie Rea	28–12
Winner	3.	1972	World Championship	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	37–31
Winner	4.	1972	Stratford Professional	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	6–3
Runner-up	1.	1972	Park Drive 2000 – Spring	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	3–4
Runner-up	2.	1972	Park Drive 2000 – Autumn	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	3–5
Winner	5.	1973	Men of the Midlands (2)	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	5–3
Winner	6.	1974	Watney Open	Davis, FredFred Davis	17–11
Runner-up	3.	1974	Jackpot Automatics	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	0–5
Runner-up	4.	1975	Ashton Court Country Club Event	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	1–5
Winner	7.	1975	Canadian Open	Pulman, JohnJohn Pulman	15–7
Runner-up	5.	1975	Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament	John Spencer	7–9
Winner	8.	1976	Canadian Club Masters	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	6–4
Runner-up	6.	1976	Canadian Open	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	9–17
Runner-up	7.	1976	Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament (2)	John Spencer	0–5
Winner	9.	1977	Canadian Open (2)	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	17–14
Runner-up	8.	1977	Dry Blackthorn Cup	Fagan, PatsyPatsy Fagan	2–4
Winner	10.	1977	Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	5–3
Winner	11.	1978	Irish Professional Championship (2)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	21–7
Winner	12.	1978	The Masters	Thorburn, CliffCliff Thorburn	7–5
Runner-up	9.	1978	Castle Professional	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	3–5
Winner	13.	1978	Irish Professional Championship (3)	Fagan, PatsyPatsy Fagan	21–13
Runner-up	10.	1978	Champion of Champions	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	9–11
Runner-up	11.	1978	Suffolk Professional Invitational	Patsy Fagan	3–7
Runner-up	12.	1979	The Masters	Mans, PerriePerrie Mans	4–8
Winner	14.	1979	Tolly Cobbold Classic	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	5–4
Winner	15.	1979	Irish Professional Championship (4)	Fagan, PatsyPatsy Fagan	21–12
Winner	16.	1980	Padmore Super Crystalate International	Mans, PerriePerrie Mans	4–2
Runner-up	13.	1980	The Classic	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	3–4
Winner	17.	1980	Tolly Cobbold Classic (2)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	5–4
Runner-up	14.	1980	The Masters (2)	Griffiths, TerryTerry Griffiths	5–9
Winner	18.	1980	British Gold Cup	Reardon, RayRay Reardon	5–1
Runner-up	15.	1980	Irish Professional Championship	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	15–21
Winner	19.	1980	Pontins Camber Sands	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	9–7
Runner-up	16.	1980	UK Championship	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	6–16
Winner	20.	1981	The Masters (2)	Griffiths, TerryTerry Griffiths	9–6
Runner-up	17.	1982	Irish Professional Championship (2)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	13–16
Runner-up	18.	1982	Scottish Masters	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	4–9
Runner-up	19.	1982	UK Championship (2)	Griffiths, TerryTerry Griffiths	15–16
Winner	21.	1983	Irish Professional Championship (5)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	16–11
Winner	22.	1983	UK Championship	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	16–15
Runner-up	20.	1985	Irish Masters	White, JimmyJimmy White	5–9
Runner-up	21.	1985	Irish Professional Championship (3)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	5–10
Runner-up	22.	1985	Carlsberg Challenge	White, JimmyJimmy White	3–8
Runner-up	23.	1986	Irish Professional Championship (4)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	7–10
Runner-up	24.	1986	Scottish Masters (2)	Thorburn, CliffCliff Thorburn	8–9
Runner-up	25.	1987	The Masters (3)	Taylor, DennisDennis Taylor	8–9
Runner-up	26.	1988	WPBSA Invitational – Event 1	Wilkinson, GaryGary Wilkinson	4–5
Winner	23.	1989	Irish Professional Championship (6)	McLaughlin, JackJack McLaughlin	9–7
Runner-up	27.	1989	Hong Kong Gold Cup	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	3–6
Winner	24.	1989	Irish Masters	Stephen Hendry	9–8

Pro-am finals: 4 (3 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score	Ref.
Winner	1.	1975	Castle Open	Spencer, JohnJohn Spencer	5–2
Winner	2.	1977	Pontins Spring Open	Griffiths, TerryTerry Griffiths	7–4
Winner	3.	1979	Castle Open (2)	Davis, FredFred Davis	5–1
Runner-up	1.	1987	Dutch Open	Birch, JonathanJonathan Birch	2–6

Team finals: 6 (5 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent(s) in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1975	Ladbroke International	Rest of the World	England	Cumulative score
Winner	2.	1984	World Doubles Championship	White, JimmyJimmy White	Thorburn, CliffCliff Thorburn Thorne, WillieWillie Thorne	10–2
Winner	3.	1985	World Cup	Ireland	England	9–7
Winner	4.	1986	World Cup (2)	Ireland	Canada	9–7
Winner	5.	1987	World Cup (3)	Ireland	Canada	9–2
Runner-up	1.	1990	World Cup	Northern Ireland	Canada	5–9

Amateur finals: 3 (2 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score	Ref.
Winner	1.	1968	Northern Ireland Amateur Championship	Maurice Gill	4–1
Winner	2.	1968	All-Ireland Amateur Championship	Gerry Hanway	4–1
Runner-up	1.	1969	Northern Ireland Amateur Championship	Dessie Anderson	0–4

See also

In Spanish: Alex Higgins para niños