One of the very best players of the early 1980s, Kirk Stevens, noted for his white suits and shoes, never lived up to his potential. Problems with drugs led a fall down the rankings from which he has to date never recovered although he is still an active player.

Kirk began playing the game at the age of ten. Two years later, having already made his first century break, he had the audacity to challenge his idol, Cliff Thorburn for $2, but lost - and paid up.  By the age of 15 he was playing many money matches. Looking younger than his age, many older players thought he would be easy pickings. How wrong they were. By 1978 aged 20 he had qualified for the world amateur championships where he lost in the semi-final to Cliff Wilson following which he turned professional.

He reached the Crucible at his first attempt in 1979 but lost in the first round to Fred Davis. A few months later however he got his revenge over Cliff Thorburn, beating him in the final of the Canadian Professional Championship. In the 1980 Embassy, he became the youngest to reach the semi-finals, at that time, losing 13-16 to Alex Higgins. Over the next few years several quarter and semi-final appearances saw him climb rapidly up the rankings to a peak of 4th at the end of the 1983/4 season. This followed a second world semi-final, losing to Jimmy White. It was also against Jimmy a few weeks earlier that Kirk recorded a 147 in the semi-final of the Masters at Wembley.

He formed an enduring partnership with Cliff Thorburn and Bill Werbeniuk in the early World Team Cups and they lifted the trophy in 1982 after being runners up in 1980. He won the Canadian title again in 1981 and 1983 but still had not reached the final of a major event. In fact, he had lost no less than nine major semi-finals before, in 1985, he met South African, Silvino Francisco, in the Dulux British Open final. Although Kirk was a heavy favourite with Francisco not even being ranked in the top 16, he lost 12-9.

After that match, Francisco accused Kirk of taking stimulants and a few weeks later he admitted to an addiction to cocaine. He went back to Canada that summer for treatment and returned to reach three more ranking quarter-finals the next season but after that his victories were few and far between. After seven seasons in the top 16 he dropped out of that group at the end of the 1986/87 season and a year later was out of the top 32 as well. He played on until the end of the 1992/3 season maintaining a ranking in the 50s or 60s but then decided to return to Canada and sort himself out.

Things have improved recently and he won back a place on the main tour for the 1998/99 season but did not do enough to retain his place for the following season. He almost managed to get back again for the 2000/01 season but lost in the final North American qualifier to Bob Chaperon.

He briefly returned to try his luck, unsuccessfully on the Challenge Tour in 2003/4. He is still playing as an amateur and won the Canadian Amateur title five times since leaving the pro ranks. He played in the World Amateur championship in 1997, 2000 and 2008 in addition to his earlier appearance in 1978.