Enigma Variations

The Hurricane – Snooker Drama, Human Tragedy

July 25th, 2010

So Alex Higgins is gone. It was expected, as anyone who saw him, frail and horribly thin, at the exhibition game at Sheffield a few weeks ago would know, but it’s still a tragic end to a wonderful talent.

He was often controversial, rubbed some people the wrong way, defied authority and normal standards of decorum, but his charisma, his fierce determination to win, and the way his emotions played out so publicly in his face made the game of snooker compelling viewing and provided every player who came after him with a sport that had a prestige that would have been unimaginable before his appearance.

There are many memories.

The UK final against Steve Davies where he lost all the games in the first two sessions, phoned his wife and told her he was going to win, and proceeded to do so.

The entrance into the arena with the hat in a World final against Cliff Thorburn.

The unbelievable escape from an impossible looking snooker on the black rail by going right round a crowded table and nestling against the ball with perfect pace and judgement of angles.

The emotional beckoning of wife and child after the magnificent century to win the World final against Ray Reardon.

But the one that I’ll never forget is that break against Jimmy White when two frames and 60-odd points down and looking to be beaten in the semi-final. Every shot was a hard pot and it seemed like every position was harder and harder. And a miss on any of them would have spelled defeat. It took a very special talent, it took nerve, and it took guts. It was magnetic for audience and TV viewers alike and you had to remember to breath. Surely we thought, he had to miss one eventually, but somehow he seemed to will them into the pockets and coaxed just enough of a miracle of position to make the next one possible. Not by a long way the most fluent break, but quite definitely the best, the most creative and the most difficult I’ve ever seen.

The drinking, the smoking and the gambling took their toll but the crowds loved him because he was human and fallible and because you could read the desire, the frustration, the hope and the genius etched across his face, and because he always seemed to want to give the audience the entertainment that he was uniquely capable of giving them.

Farewell Alex, you made the world a more interesting and exciting place. I only wish it had been kinder to you as a person.

Entry Filed under: sport