Snooker cult hero Willie dead at 66
WILLIE THORNE 1954-2020
SNOOKER legend Willie Thorne has died aged 66 after suffering from leukaemia.
He was diagnosed with the cancer in March, and was taken to hospital in Spain last week with dangerously low blood pressure. He died after going into septic shock.
His carer, Julie O’Neill, wrote online: “He passed away very peacefully and without pain, listening to his children saying they love him.”
Willie never won a major title but snooker fans loved him for his attractive style of play. He was known as Mr Maximum after compiling more than 100 147 breaks.
He retired as a player in 2001 and became a respected commentator but he suffered for years with a gambling addiction and went bankrupt in 2016.
Close friend and fellow Leicester citizen Gary Lineker said Willie was “one of life’s great characters: a marvellous snooker player and a lovely man”.
Scotland’s seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry said: “I know he had faults and weaknesses (we all do) but he was one of the game’s greatest ever characters.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan said Willie was a “beautiful man” with a big heart.
And Dennis Taylor, who played against him and commentated alongside him, said: “We laughed our way around the world for 45 years. RIP Great One. That was my name for him: The Great WT.”
BENEATH that crested dome and Max Wall haircut, snooker legend Willie Thorne wore his Groucho Marx moustache like a crown. Among sporting heroes, from cricketers Graham Gooch and Merv Hughes to Formula One’s Nigel Mansell and Craig Stadler, the former US Masters champion, Thorne’s enviable ‘tash’ was the cat’s whiskers. Surfing the wave of snooker’s Pot Black era, when no other sport was more galvanised by the advent of colour TV, Thorne achieved the contradiction of wearing the crown although he was never the king. And if his descent into a gambling addiction proved a chronic weakness, public forgiveness was usually available on credit. Thorne has died at the age of 66 in Spain after his battle with leukaemia was complicated by respiratory failure. If the national Under-16 champion 50 years ago never converted his youthful promise into domination of the green baize, his charisma transcended sport.
When a ballroom plodder with two left feet was required for light entertainment on Saturday evening prime-time TV, Thorne was a willing fall guy on Strictly Come Dancing.
When Cockney geezers Chas and Dave churned out their hit Snooker Loopy with a motley band of backing vocalists from Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable, Thorne’s cameo line – “Perhaps I ought to chalk it” – raised a laugh.
And, sadly, when one of Leicester’s most famous sporting sons had his chance to land a major title, he blew it. Leading Steve Davis 13-8 in the UK Open final, he missed a straightforward blue when 59-50 ahead in the 22nd frame.
It was the turning point of his career. Davis roared back to win 16-14 and Thorne would turn flattering to deceive into an art form. Years later he said: “It always hurt me that I let that match go because I could have gone on to become a top two or three player in the world.”
It always hurt that I let that match go as I could have been at the top
WILLIE THORNE ON HIS FAMOUS OPEN LOSS TO DAVIS