GOLDEN SMILE
Nugget gave me my big break says Hearn
ON THE dance floor, Barry Hearn celebrated with the finesse of a prop forward dumping an opposing flanker into touch.
When Steve Davis potted the final pink, clinching the first of his six world titles, Hearn decorated his triumph with a “half rugby tackle, half man hug”.
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’ve 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 which always stands out for me is that 1981 World 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 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.”
Hearn’s account of the moment his ‘Nugget’ turned into 24-carat gold is in leading snooker journalist Hector Nunns’ book ‘The Crucible’s Greatest Matches,’ which relives that man hug with Davis.
“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.”