UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Alex “Hurricane” Higgins has been described in superlatives. He’s fast-moving around the table and was flamboyant, with a highly unusual technique, including swerving his body when cueing. Most pros would say this is a classic example of how NOT to play snooker, yet this way, Higgins managed to pot ball after ball in rapid succession.

His legend was only increased by his habit of drinking and smoking during tournaments, and his volatile personality, which resulted in his many altercations, even on the table, although I’m not sure if he ever went through a non 12 step therapy program to try deal with his demons.

Started on snooker at 11, by 16 (in 1965) he had scored his first maximum break (147) and turned pro at 22, becoming World Snooker Champion in his first attempt in 1972.

His greatest achievement must be that classic 1982 World Professional Snooker Championship semifinal against another snooker genius in Jimmy White.

Higgins was 0-59 down in this frame, and one mistake would see him defeated. Yet, he, with his unorthodox style, came back from the dead and scored a break of 69, probably the greatest ever break made under pressure: an incredibly difficult clearance during which he was barely managed good positions until it was time for the colours.

Former world champion Dennis Taylor was quoted to have said:

…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 successfully potting that blue, the Hurricane “screwed the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin,” which Taylor himself believes “could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with cue-ball.”

Even Steve Davis, one of snooker’s greatest ever players said in Clive Everton’s TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002): “Higgins is the one true genius that snooker has produced.”

Video:

That year Higgins went on to be world champion for the second time in his career, defeating one of the most successful players of that era, Ray Reardon 18–15, with a clearance of 135 in the final frame.

He died 24th July 2010 of throat cancer aged 61.

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