'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the sport's departed star two decades on.
All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.
A sporting bug, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.
This year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.
But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the game he loved, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him remain as vibrant now.
'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession
"It was impossible to foresee in a million years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.
"However he just adored it."
Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child.
"He was relentless," he notes. "He would play every night after school."
After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from home play with aplomb.
His natural ability would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.
Quick Success: The Path to Glory
With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.
It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.
Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue
But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never faded.
"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."
"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."
Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".
With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.
No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'.
A Brave Battle: His Final Years
In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.
Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.
Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.
When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.
"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."
A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back
Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.
The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.
The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.
"The aim remained for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.
The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.
"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated.
Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence
Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".
"I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"
"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."
Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's legend.
The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.
But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.
