About Alex Higgins
Born on 18th March, 1949, Alex Higgins is a world known snooker player. Alexander Gordon Higgins was born in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and started to play the game of snooker at a very early age. This Irish snooker player became famous for his sporting talents as well as his attachment to alcohol. Among the many sports persons who are iconic drinkers, Alex Higgins is definitely one. He married twice, and had a daughter from his first marriage, and a daughter and a son from his second marriage. His drinking exploits had a major impact on his personal as well as professional life.
Life and career of Alex Higgins
At the age of 19, in the year 1968, Alex Higgins won the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur snooker championships. At the age of 22, he became a professional snooker player. At his very first attempt at the World Professional Snooker Championship he achieved success, when he was just 23 years of age. Until 1990, Alex Higgins was the youngest champion of this reputed tournament. In the year 1982, he again claimed the title by defeating Ray Reardon. This victory marked his professional as well as emotional triumph. In the championships of 1976 and 1980 came the second best. He lost to Ray Reardon and Cliff Thorburn, respectively.
His quick movements around the snooker table and his resplendent style made him known as Hurricane Higgins. He became the most popular and high profile snooker player of all time. During tournaments, he smoked and drank like his contemporaries, assisting tobacco advertisers sponsoring the tournaments. Having a volatile personality led him into battles and confrontations, both while playing the game as well as off the snooker table. He became infamous by head butting an official of the UK Championship in the year 1986. At present Alex Higgins is semi retired and fighting throat cancer. However, he had appeared in Irish Professional Championships in 2005 and 2006. Keeping apart the controversies, Alex Higgins along with Jimmy White was responsible in propelling the game onto the international stage of sports by the 1980s.
It is believed that Alex Higgins had earned and exhausted a fortune of three million pounds over a period of twenty years. Some of his notable wins besides the World championship include the Canadian Open, Irish Masters, Benson & Hedges Masters, World Doubles, Coral UK Championship, and many other tournaments.
Browse through the pages of alcoholabusehub.com to know more about Sports Persons who were Iconic Drinkers.
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