Pride of place on Barry Hearn's office wall is afforded to a picture garnished with an autograph that took him 40 years to acquire.
For one of British sport's most influential puppet masters – especially in snooker, boxing, darts and football – it was the holy grail of squiggles. As a master salesman who could flog sandcastles in the Sahara and ice cubes in the Antarctic, Hearn could usually close a deal faster than most of us can shut a door.
He once pursued Don King through the night in Manchester, and warned the shock-haired promoter would get “no sleep” until he handed over Bazza's $2 million share of the pot from Chris Eubank's rematch with Nigel Benn at Old Trafford in 1993. But the man who mentored 16-times world champion Phil 'The Power' Taylor and made the launchpad for 'Rocket' Ronnie O'Sullivan didn't always call the tune in football.
On his watch as chairman at first love Leyton Orient from 1995-2014, he “made a small profit twice, broke even twice and did our b******* for the other 15 years.”
We all remember our first football match, and Hearn's was an Os friendly against Falkirk on 30 January 1960. “The attendance was 6,988, more than twice the number that turned up for my first league match as chairman of the club 35 years later,” he observed in his enjoyable autobiography.*
“From day one, I was hooked on Leyton Orient as my club and that has remained the case ever since, to my lasting pleasure and cost.
"My hero at that time was a rough-and-tough centre forward called Tommy Johnston. He left the club in 1961, but I never forgot Tommy Johnston. When I later became owner we renamed the South stand after him with a moving ceremony. His ashes were interred there – forever Orient.”
When Hearn was allowed to broaden his horizons as a schoolboy, and occasionally dropped in on neighbouring Tottenham Hotspur, it galvanised the autograph hunter in him. “I was lucky – my first look at Tottenham was the season when they won the Double,” said Hearn, now 73 and president of the Matchroom empire which started with a few snooker tables and fruit machines.
“When I wanted to start going to football, my parents insisted that I should go to Leyton Orient because it was a safer environment. At the bigger clubs, when there were 60,000 people packed tightly on the terraces, younger kids would be passed over everyone's heads so they could get down the front.”
In his book, Hearn reveals his early experience of crowd-surfing turned to audacity – a trait which has served him well. He said: “When players ran out on to the pitch, youngsters like me would tun on with autograph books and try to get them to sign before the match started.
“On one occasion, when Spurs were playing Blackpool, including the great Stanley Matthews, I ran on trying to get the one autograph that had eluded me – Dave Mackay, who tackled with proper tackles so that the other man was rarely left upright. I was determined to get it. I ran straight towards him as he came out of the tunnel and, without looking up, he kicked the ball he was holding. It hit me straight in the face and knocked me off my feet.
“I still remember lying there, seeing stars, and this huge face of Dave Mackay peering at me. He asked, 'Are you all right, lad?' 'Yes, Mr Mackay, I'm fine,' I said. 'Can I have your autograph please?' He replied, 'No, you can f*** off.'
“At least 40 years later, I was speaking at a function in the Midlands and there was a table of former Tottenham players including, you guessed it, the one and only Dave Mackay. I walked over to him and said, 'Can I have your autograph now, Mr Mackay?', recounting the story, and we had a good laugh – but I still ended up without his signature.
“A week later, a huge parcel arrived in my office. When I opened it, there was a picture of the great Spurs squad with Dave Mackay being held aloft by Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean and Pat Jennings.
"Every player had signed it and there was an accompanying note from Dave: 'At last you have got my autograph.' That picture takes pride of place in my private office at home and will never be taken down.”
*Barry Hearn: My Life - Knockouts, Snookers, Bullseyes, Tight Lines & Sweet Deals, published by Hodder and Stoughton £20 hardback
