Steve was the nugget of gold I found, like a Klondike prospector
40 YEARS SINCE DAVIS TITLE LAUNCHED HEARN’S EMPIRE
ON THE dance floor, Barry Hearn celebrated with the finesse of a prop forward evacuating an opposing flanker into touch.
When Steve Davis potted the final pink, clinching the first of his six snooker world titles in a decade, his manager Hearn decorated his triumph with a “halfrugby tackle, half man-hug”.
But it was the moment that launched a sporting empire 40 years ago – after it was hatched with a contract signed against a lamp post on Blackpool’s Golden Mile.
“I have been lucky enough to promote, manage, work with or bask in the reflected glory of Phil Taylor, Chris Eubank, Anthony Joshua and Ronnie O’Sullivan,” said Hearn, the founder of promotions company Matchroom.
“But the one moment in time which always stands out for me is that 1981 World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible, when Steve won his first title.
“For player and manager, it was mission accomplished – the fulfilment of a dream we had mapped out when Steve signed a contract with me under a street light in Blackpool about three years earlier. Our mission statement that night was for two ordinary workingclass blokes, from council houses in Dagenham and Plumstead, to conquer the world.
“I was the son of a bus driver, Steve was the nugget of gold I had discovered like a Klondike prospector and, to tell the truth, it didn’t happen as quickly as I hoped.
“But when he got to the final against Doug Mountjoy, you sensed it was his big chance. Maybe it wasn’t now or never, but you can never take anything in life for granted.
“You never know when the next big shot is going to come riding into town and blow everyone else away.
“So for everything else that sport has given me – and I have been privileged to enjoy some front-row seats where you couldn’t put a price on the ticket – that Easter Monday in 1981 is the event that springs to mind first.”
Hearn’s account of the moment his ‘nugget’ turned into 24-carat gold, in leading snooker journalist Hector Nunns’ book The Crucible’s Greatest Matches, relives that hug with Davis which transcended euphoria.
Although he did not usually watch his prodigy’s matches among spectators in Sheffield’s famous auditorium, as Davis closed in on his 18-12 win against Mountjoy, Hearn and his wife Susan took in the final session at the arena.
“As it got nearer the winning line, I was telling myself not to do anything stupid,” said Hearn. “And then, of course, he pots the pink and I am hitting him with a rugby tackle that would have knocked out most second rows.”