Jimmy White ‘still gets a buzz’ watching Alex Higgins’ legendary break against him at 1982 World Championship

Jimmy White says he still “gets a buzz” watching the legendary break Alex Higgins produced against him at the 1982 World Championship.

Higgins’ 69 clearance in the penultimate frame of a 16-15 win over White is widely regarded as one of the greatest breaks in the history of snooker and sent him on the way to his second world title.

White was on the receiving end of the moment of magic, but reflects on it fondly 41 years later.

“I go and do shows and people put on that break to show me. I get such a buzz out of watching Higgins play those shots,” White said on Eurosport’s World Championship coverage.

“He was so out of position. This was my hero. He was steaming because I knew he was drinking these large vodka and oranges, but he could play drunk.

“He did about four or five shots in that break which he was odds against. I’m still sitting in my seat thinking I was going to win.

“But after he had done that break, I was completely stunned. Then he went on to win it and win the World Championship, and I was so happy for him.

“I just thought ‘I’ll win it next year or the year after’. I still think I can win it. But I was watching my hero. I was only a kid playing Higgins.”

White added: “John Higgins has done some terrific breaks; he did one with Ronnie O’Sullivan. But there was never another break like that, people don’t play those shots!”

John Higgins and O’Sullivan are among the contenders to be crowned the Crucible champion this year.

White believes the experienced pair are among the only players who are capable of similar shots to ‘The Hurricane’.

“I played [Alex] Higgins when I was 16 or 17 in a few exhibitions and practised with him and he was dynamite,” White said.

“He had great cue-ball control. His time was ahead of anyone else’s. All the shots he does – John Higgins can do them, Ronnie O’Sullivan can do them now – but no one else was doing them when [Alex] Higgins was playing.”

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