🔗 Share this article 'He was a joy': Remembering the game's departed star a score of years on. Paul Hunter claimed The Masters on three occasions during a brief yet brilliant career. All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize. A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years. The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who were close to him endure as powerful today. 'His passion was clear': The Formative Years "We'd never have known in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states. "However he just adored it." Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a young boy. "He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced every night after school." Early starter: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the very young age. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from table top snooker with great skill. His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon. Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody." "When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party". With his effortless appeal, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In 2005, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment. Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year. When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members. "It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain." An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK. The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people all over the country. The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one official said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "in touch with his memory". "I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!" "We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled." While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, commences later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
Paul Hunter claimed The Masters on three occasions during a brief yet brilliant career. All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize. A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years. The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who were close to him endure as powerful today. 'His passion was clear': The Formative Years "We'd never have known in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states. "However he just adored it." Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a young boy. "He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced every night after school." Early starter: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the very young age. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from table top snooker with great skill. His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon. Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody." "When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party". With his effortless appeal, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In 2005, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment. Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year. When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members. "It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain." An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK. The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people all over the country. The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one official said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "in touch with his memory". "I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!" "We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled." While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, commences later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.