Steve Davis has led the tributes to Alex Higgins after the two-time world champion died after a long battle with throat cancer. The 1972 and 1982 champion was a hugely popular figure with fans of the game and Davis, himself a six-time world champion, believes it was the Irishman's competitive nature that so endeared him to the public.
Three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan described Alex Higgins as his "inspiration". O'Sullivan was moved to pursue a career in the sport after witnessing Higgins' flamboyant style and quickfire approach.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Davis said: " I only knew him professionally not personally, but as a player he had so much fascination for the crowd and fans that watched him because he was such a competitive animal, and you always knew how he was feeling.
"In a game that is reserved and we wear bow ties and suits you could read what Alex Higgins was thinking.
"He had that magnetism that is rare in sport and he was demonstrative around the table. He drew people who would not necessarily have watched snooker to the game."
Davis continued: "Ray Reardon and John Spencer were great champions of the 70s but the person who dragged the game further was Alex Higgins.
"He used to wear this awful garb, he wore white trousers and a tank top for the World Championship and the authorities were always trying to pin him down to wear a bow tie but he always took it off. He would even bring bottles of champagne in for the board. He had that cheek in him.
"It caused problems within the game, upsetting all and sundry at an official level and the crowd loved him for it. He was a genius and along with Ronnie (O'Sullivan) and Jimmy (White), they are the three players who have had more shots that they could play.
"He hated the authorities of the game, he would be spitting blood when they turned him away or tried to ban him for misdemeanours that led to his downfall.
"My memories are of what a clever player on a snooker table he was. He was a player I had so many battles with, it was a pleasure to play against the man."
Davis also said his favourite memory of Higgins, nicknamed 'Hurricane' for his playing style, would be the break he made to win the deciding frame of the 1982 World Championship semi-final against Jimmy White.
Trailing 59-0, Higgins produced an astonishing break of 69 where he was rarely able to find ideal position to seal a place in the final, which he went on to win.
"To this day he has the accolade of the most amazing clearance against Jimmy White to salvage the semi-final in 1982," said Davis. "In that clearance you could see the skill of the man and the bottle he had."
The 34-year-old O'Sullivan told the Sunday Telegraph: "Alex Higgins was one of the real inspirations behind me getting into snooker in the first place.
"He is a legend of snooker, and should forever be remembered as the finest ever snooker player."
Former snooker champion and commentator Dennis Taylor told the BBC: "I don't think you'll ever, ever see another player in the game of snooker like the great Alex Higgins."
He said he had enjoyed some "terrific battles" against the sportsman, adding: "He was a very, very exciting player to watch. He just was totally unique."
"He battled right to the end, did Alex, and that's what he did throughout his whole snooker career."
Former world number seven Willie Thorne described Higgins as a "genius" who changed the game on and off the table.
"It's a sad loss, he's obviously one of the greatest players of all time," Thorne said on Sky Sports News. "He's been ill for some time as everybody knows and suffered greatly for the last few years and he was just hanging on in there.
"We just remember the games when he played, everybody wanted to watch, he was exciting, nobody knew what would happen, it was dangerous. It's a sad loss.
"They say every genius is bordering on mad and Alex was certainly that. You never knew if he would jump into the crowd or hit the referee or walk out or what he would do.
"But he was also a fantastic cue man and played some great stuff. He created shots that everybody now copies. All the screw shots and the backspin, it's all down to Higgins, he developed part of the game nobody knew about."
Thorne also remembered how Higgins became a regular on the celebrity circuit.
"Everybody loves a genius. When you're a genius that makes you one of the best people in the world and someone that everyone wants to see. He was a close pal of George Best and he actually stayed at my mother's house a few times and she ended up doing all his ironing and cleaning.
"I was actually asked to drive for him when I was 19 by his management company. I declined and it's probably a good job I did. But I played with him plenty of times and we had a few run-ins but we always kissed and made up at the end.
"It's down to Alex Higgins and colour television that the game became as popular as it was. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Alex."
Thorne also paid tribute to Higgins' fighting spirit.
"He was someone who never gave up," he said. "When he beat Jimmy White he was not the best player in that game but he just never gave up, he always had his heart on his sleeve and he never gave up. He's been fighting this illness for five or six years and he fought to the end.
"It was all natural ability. He did everything wrong until he hit the ball.
"Alex didn't do anything in the textbooks, he did it his own way and he was very, very special.
"To have only won the world title twice didn't do justice to his talent. He could have won it many more times."
Higgins' biographer Seán Boru also paid a warm tribute to the man he worked with for 10 months during 2005 and 2006.
"Alex was great company, that was the best way to describe him," said Boru. "He could be up one minute and be very cutting the next, but you forgave him. He was a true individual, I know people say it but he was. There will never be and there never was anyone like Alex Higgins, he was a fantastic character to be around.
"It was his personality (that made him so popular). Alex Higgins was the Muhammad Ali of snooker, he dragged it kicking and screaming into the 20th century. I spoke to someone earlier who said wasn't it lucky Alex made his name when snooker came into its own, but I said it was the other way round. Snooker didn't make Alex Higgins, Alex Higgins made snooker.
"I saw him about two months ago and he looked so awful...I think everybody close to Alex knew the end was nigh."
Figures from outside the game have also paid tribute, with Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson saying: "Alex Higgins was a colourful character and one of the most popular players of his generation.
"He will be greatly missed by snooker fans and the wider sporting public.
"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time."