Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Our mission that night was for two normal working-class blokes from council houses in Dagenham and Plumsteadto CONQUER THE WORLD 40 YEARS AGO
HOW HEARN, SON OF A BUS DRIVER, AND DAVIS- HIS NUGGET OF GOLD CHANGED THE WORLD OF SNOOKER FOREVER ONE NIGHT
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 the same decade, Hearn decorated his triumph with a “half-rugby 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.
Davis, now 63, became Hearn’s golden ticket and his domination of snooker in the 1980s earned him the backhanded compliment of a Spitting Image puppet and his ‘Interesting’ nickname as a bonus accompaniment.
Hearn still reveres Davis conquering the world at 23 as the night he cracked the big time. “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,” he said.
“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 working-class 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 man-hug with Davis which transcended euphoria.
Although Bazza never usually watched his prodigy’s matches among spectators in Sheffield’s famous auditorium, as Davis closed in on his 18-12 win against Mountjoy, Hearn took in the final session with his wife Susan in 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.”
The hangover, 12 months later, was no less startling.
Davis was knocked out 10-1 in the first round by Tony Knowles, who had spent the night before a huge upset chilling in Josephine’s nightclub.
Hearn exacerbated the Nugget’s discomfort by throwing a huge losers’ party back at the Matchroom HQ in Romford. He added: “Steve hated losing, so that got into his head and stayed there. It became a huge motivator for him.”