Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins; 18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010.

It did not really come as a suprise. The man they called the 'Hurricane' had become somewhat of light breeze. Painfully imaciated, paying the price of a life lived to the excess, Alex Higgins died on Saturday in his Belfast home.

Snookers wild child Ronnie O'Sullivan today called Higgins 'a legend of snooker' who should be remembered as the 'greatest player of all time'. The tribute is a fitting epitaph as O'Sullivan is essentially the modern day 'Hurricane'. A genius, but a flawed one. Both supremely talented individuals with more skill around the table than their contemporaries, both victims of unrealised potential.

The sad ignominy of the 'Hurricane', makes O'Sullivan's statement somewhat ironic. Throughout the duration of 26 year career Alex Higgins was never officially ranked as the number one snooker player in the world, reaching a career high of #2 which he held for only two years. Yet O'Sullivan wasn't wrong, Higgins was the poster boy for a generation that made snooker 'cool'. Smoking and drinking as he played Higgins made striking a ball with a cue into a soap opera.

In a sport known for its reticence the Hurricane was, pardon the pun, a breath of fresh air. If there was one thing Alex Higgins wasn't it was reticent. Sometimes though this 'exuberance' spilled over into down-right lunacy. The most serious occasion being when he head butted a tournament referee in the 1986 UK champions and was subsequently banned from the next 5 tournaments and fined 12,000 pounds.

Higgins twice won snooker's World Championship (in 72& 82) and reached the final a further twice (76&80). To put this into perspective Steve Davis won the same tournament six times, reaching the final a further twice. Yet O'Sullivan chose Higgins. The fact is snooker is about more than striking the ball. It is possible to debate Higgins did not make the most of his talent and that two World Championships are not sufficient to justify the tag of 'greatest ever', but Higgins was so much more than a snooker player.

Alex Higgins was a maverick, a magician whose off-table exploits dramatically divided public consensus. He made snooker about more than balls and felt. It became bigger than 147's. Bigger even than winning tournaments. Alex Higgins brought snooker into the mainstream. He was the cross-over, the first player who was more than just a sportsmen. The Hurricane was an entertainer, and the public loved him.

In a tragic twist of fate it was the sport to which he brought so much that would eventually lead to his downfall. The continued affiliation between snooker and the tobacco industry in the 70's and 80's helped Higgins develop a heavy smoking habit that he was never able to kick.

In June 1998 Alex Higgins was diagnosed with a form of throat cancer, attributed in no small part to his, on occasions, 80 a day habit. Although surgery later removed the cancer from his body, the intensive radiotherapy sessions lead to the loss of all his teeth. It was the beginning of the end.

Alex Higgins became a recluse. Intermittently emerging back into the spotlight, but never to the fanfare it once was. It was his weight that became the main issue, unable to consume solid foods after the radiotheraphy robbed him of his teeth the Hurricane was, it was rumoured, forced to live of liquids.

In April this year Higgins' friends announced plans to raise £20,000 he needed for teeth implants. For Higgins though it was to late, reduced to a gaunt six stone the Hurricane had blown itself out.

So here we are. Snookers great anti-hero is no longer with us and it moves to the next generation to pick up the mantle. His body may have been broken, but the genius of the Hurricane will never die. It lives on in the cues of the men who's sport Alex Higgins helped to define, and for that we thank him.

Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins; 18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010. R.I.P.