Three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan described Alex Higgins as his ‘inspiration’ following the death of the Northern Irishman at the age of 61 following a long battle with throat cancer.
O'Sullivan was moved to pursue a career in the sport after witnessing Higgins' flamboyant style and quickfire approach, which secured the player known as ‘the Hurricane’ two world titles.
The 34-year-old O'Sullivan told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘Alex Higgins was one of the real inspirations behind me getting into snooker in the first place.
‘He is a legend of snooker, and should forever be remembered as the finest ever snooker player.’
Born in 1949, Higgins honed his natural ability in the clubs of Sandy Row in Belfast from the age of 11.
At 16 he left the city for England in the hope of becoming a jockey, but issues with his weight turned him from whiphand to cue master, and he turned professional at the age of 22.
In his own words he was 'the most natural, charismatic (see BBC for example) player who ever lifted a cue'.
Steve Davis said Higgins was the 'one true genius that snooker produced'.
Davis said: 'To people in the game he was a constant source of argument, he was a rebel. But to the wider public he was a breath of fresh air that drew them in to the game.
'He was an inspiration to my generation to take the game up. I do not think his contribution to snooker can be underestimated.'
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn admits it would have been a ‘nightmare’ to manage Higgins but paid tribute to his genius.
‘You remember his genius, but also there was the other side,’ said Hearn, who managed six-time champion Steve Davis.
‘There was one occasion when he and I squared off against each other in my Romford office, when he said he was not coming back to finish a game I had paid him for.
‘I think that is very refreshing that we can remember both the good bits and the bad bits.’
Hearn told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: ‘Alex asked me to manage him several times, but I said “you would be a nightmare, mate, we would end up rolling around in a backstreet killing each other”.
‘But he never said a bad word against me, we had a mutual respect.
‘Alex never let me down, he should have done and almost did a lot, but he never actually did.’
