Posted online: Jul 26th, 2010

A County Derry man who tamed Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins on a billiards table over four decades ago has recalled the sensational achievement this week.
Magherafelt man Tommy Walls blew ‘Hurricane Higgins’ off the table when the pair met in a Dr O’Kane Cup match at Gervin’s Snooker Hall in Coalisland in 1969.
With the death of Higgins at last weekend memories of the impressive win came flooding back to the south Derry man.
The retired journalist, who worked with the Northern Constitution for 50 years, also recalled how he met Higgins a decade after their clash on the green baize.
“I went up to Limavady in 1979 to see an exhibition match, said Tommy. “Different people were being called to do referee for different frames. Marcus Dickson from Garvagh was MC on the night and he was a very good friend of mine and he asked me to referee a frame.
“Just at that Higgins jumped up out of his chair and said “where is Tommy Walls”? He gave me a big hug and told the audience that I had beaten him ten years beforehand. That was the proudest moment of my playing career, beating Alex Higgins was my proudest achievement.”
An accomplished billiards and snooker player, Tommy was a regular at Gervins’s Snooker Hall and was the reigning Mid Ulster champion when he faced Higgins at the famous venue which is also where former world champion Denis Taylor learned his craft.
Soon after Tommy’s defeat of Higgins, the ‘Hurricane’ left the North to try and make it on the professional scene in England.
“After I beat him in Coalisland he left three months later to go to Manchester to turn professional and three years later, in 1972, he became the world champion. In 1982 he was playing Jimmy White in the semi-final of the world championship and Jimmy was beating him by 65 points in one frame.
Higgins stepped in and cleared the table to score 66 points which gave him a one point win. I sent him a telegram of congratulations and best wishes for the final to The Crucible. It’s sad that such a talented person should go like that.”