Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and two-time World Champion. Nicknamed "The Hurricane" for his rapid play and known as "The People's Champion" for his popularity and charisma, he is remembered as one of the sport's most iconic figures and is often credited with helping to make snooker a mainstream televised sport in the 1980s. Higgins won the World Snooker Championship on his first attempt in 1972, beating the defending champion John Spencer 37–31 in the final. 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. He was runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1976 and Cliff Thorburn in 1980. At the 1982 tournament, he defeated Jimmy White 16–15 in the semi-finals, making a 69 clearance in the penultimate frame that is regarded as one of the finest breaks in the sport's history, and then beat Reardon 18–15 in the final to secure his second world title. Images of Higgins tearfully holding his baby daughter after the final are regarded as some of the most iconic in British sport. Higgins won the Masters in 1978 and 1981 and won the UK Championship in 1983, when he recovered from 0–7 behind to defeat Steve Davis 16–15 in the final. As of 2026, he is one of eleven players to have completed a career Triple Crown. He won the 1984 World Doubles Championship with White and, alongside Dennis Taylor and Eugene Hughes, was a member of the all-Ireland team that won three consecutive World Cups from 1985 to 1987. He won his last professional title at the 1989 Irish Masters, defeating Hendry 9–8 in the final. He dropped off the professional tour in 1997. Higgins led a chaotic personal life. A lifelong heavy smoker, he struggled with drinking and gambling and admitted to using cocaine and cannabis. His relationships were turbulent; both of his marriages ended in divorce, and he had widely publicised altercations with later partners. Unpredictable and volatile, he was often disciplined by the WPBSA, most notably in 1986, when he was fined £12,000 and banned from five tournaments for assaulting an official, and in 1990, when he was banned for more than a year for punching another official and threatening Taylor. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and died of multiple causes at his Belfast home on 24 July 2010, aged 61.
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