By Elliott West
“A real artist and a natural genius of snooker”.
The Billiard Player journal
Introduction
Patsy Houlihan is a player that has sadly been far too often overlooked when studying the greats of snooker. Jimmy White described him as being the best player in the world at his peak. He was someone who set the baize on fire when he played and produced shots that few would even dare to dream of. His best years were definitely as an amateur, spending most of his career at this status before finally turning professional at the age of 42.
Career
Amateur Career
Born in Deptford in 1929, Patsy quickly climbed the snooker tree and divided his time playing the few amateur tournaments that existed at this time and topping up his earnings with the numerous money games that existed in billiard halls across London.
Pasty went on to win the BA&CC national breaks competition in 1953, a prize for the highest amateur break of the year. Soon after this, he blasted his way to the London amateur championship, beating Jim Chapman in the final at Burroughs Hall in Leicester Square. It would be a tournament that he dominated for the next ten years and supplemented by behind-closed-doors money tournaments where he obtained cult status and a tidy sum of money.
The 1964-1965 amateur season was the peak of Patsy’s amateur career, winning 14 successive competitive matches, culminating in reaching the final of the 1965 English Amateur Championship, held at the Blackpool Tower and a final where he thrashed future world champion, John Spencer 11-3. He also went on to lift the BA&CC television tournament trophy, one of the first televised snooker tournaments.
However, this was the height of his career and sadly the rest wasn’t plain sailing. Frowned upon by Joe Davis for taking snooker into gambling terrain, Davis prevented Houlihan from turning professional at his peak and if he hadn’t he would have undoubtedly been in the same league as Alex Higgins. Instead, Patsy had already been hit by not being able to take part in the 1965 IBSF World Snooker Championship due to the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War. By the time it was held the following year, Patsy was serving a prison sentence for four months for his involvement in the burglary of a warehouse and so John Spencer replaced him as the representative due to winning the English Amateur Championship in 1966.
Professional Career
By the time Patsy Houlihan turned professional in 1971, snooker was already evolving with the dawn of colour television in 1969. Although still only a small group of professional players, Ray Reardon and John Spencer were already making massive inroads in the game, closely followed by the emerging contender, Alex Higgins. The game was being a sport and moving in the direction of the blinding light of the modern era. Houlihan struggled in this era but did manage to reach his highest ranking of 18th in 1979 and highest break of 108 in the 1980 World Championship qualifiers. He reached round 2 of the 1973 World Championship, losing to Alex Higgins 3-16 and the last 16 of the 1978 World Championship, losing to Cliff Thorburn 8-13. He eventually retired from the main tour in 1993.
Retirement
After departing the professional tour, Patsy was often seen in various snooker clubs in London as a bystander. He became the Kenneth Williams of snooker, a raconteur who warmly reminisced about the good old days of snooker. A mesmerising storyteller, Houlihan was always a humble man despite his cult status and was always modest and unassuming. A character who drew in an audience with his mix of snooker tales and a dazzling repertoire of coin tricks. Patsy passed away in 2006, aged 77 but will always be remembered for pulling off outrageous pots at lightning speed.
