Shropshire’s leading snooker professional Adrian Gunnell has paid the ultimate tribute to Alex Higgins declaring: “We all owe our careers to him.”

The world of snooker has been in mourning since Higgins lost his long battle against throat cancer on Saturday at the age of 61.

And Telford-based Gunnell insists every professional player should be grateful to the Hurricane, who twice won the World Championship.

“It’s a terrible loss for snooker because anyone who has made any semblance of a living from the game owes it all to him,” said Gunnell.

“He made the game attractive. Before he came along snooker was a sign of a mis-spent youth because it was a dirty game played in back rooms of dirty snooker halls.

“The game would never have got on television without Alex.

“It would have been great to say I played him but it never happened.

“Our paths crossed a few times in the mid-to-late 1990s when he was still on the tour.

“He had been diagnosed with cancer back then and didn’t look well so it shows what a fighter he is that he has been able to battle it for 10 years.”

Gunnell admitted Higgins had been a driving influence in him taking the game up seriously.

“Steve Davis was my idol growing up, but Alex was the one who made you want to pick up your cue and get out there and play the game yourself,” added Gunnell.

“I have got a video of The People’s Champion which is the story of him winning the World Championships in 1982.

“I still put it on now and some of the shots he played, particularly when he beat Jimmy White in the semi-final, were unreal. It’s the only snooker video I have got.”

By JAMES GARRISON

Flowers are laid beneath a mural of former snooker champion Alex Higgins, near his home in south Belfast.