Alex Higgins
If snooker players were ranked for their controversies, Alex Higgins was still at number 1. None of today's snooker players can compete with Hurricane Higgins, whom at his best expressed death threats towards his opponent, head-butted a snooker tournament official, not to mention his smoking and drinking habit during play.
Not that he was not a good enough snooker player; still, Alex Higgins was not monikered "Hurricane" only thanks to his hot temper. The two times World Snooker Champion could pot the balls in the fastest pace. His unique playing style, which included his strangely higher stance and his odd cueing movements, as well as his flamboyant personality made his snooker games a spectacle.
After half jubilee of professional snooker career, two World Championships, 6 tournaments wins and endless disputes, Alex Higgins retired from the game only to make occasional appearances in charity tournaments about ten years later.
Alex Higgins Last Major Snooker Tournament
Alex Higgins last major tournament was a qualifying event for the 1997 World Championship. After losing, reacting savagely and getting kicked out of Plymouth's Pavilions, Alex Higgins declared that he has been stabbed.
Unforgettable Moments in Alex Higgins' Snooker Career:
At the 1986 UK championship, Alex Higgins head-butted a tournament official after the latter required him to provide a urine sample for a random drugs test. This incident led to a one year ban of playing snooker professionally and marked the beginning of the Hurricane downfall.
1990 was the most scandalous year in Higgins' snooker career. At the World Cup, he started in threatening to shoot his fellow Irish team member Dennis Taylor and ended up in abusing the snooker referee. Later that year, at the World Championship Higgins gave the tournament director a punch in the face.
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