One-of-a-kind, snooker player Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins has died, aged 61, from throat cancer. He was literally a shadow of his former self when he died, weighing just 6 stone and having lost most of his teeth. A sad end to an extraordinary (in the true sense of the word) sportsman - he was truly out of the ordinary. He made me laugh (and gasp) at some of his outrageous, seemingly illconsidered snooker shots, reminding me of my own approach to the game: 'have a go and see what happens'!
Former world champion Stephen
Hendry said about Higgins: “He wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea but he was a great player and
he’ll be sadly missed. When I was just starting out
as a professional it was always exciting when you played him – you never
knew what to expect."
A maverick, Higgins was from an earlier era of snooker, when it was more of a novelty on television and the likes of Ray Reardon, Doug Mountjoy, Terry Griffiths, Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor (he of the upside-down glasses) kept us up watching late into the night at the end of knife-edge competitions. Alex was world champion in 1972 and 1982.
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