🔗 Share this article 'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's departed star 20 years on. The talented player claimed The Masters thrice during a compact but stellar career. Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game. A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim six major trophies in half a dozen years. Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the sport and those who knew him remain as powerful today. 'The game was his life': Early Beginnings "We'd never have known in a million years our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother says. "Yet he just was passionate about it." Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a youth. "He never stopped," he notes. "He would play every night after school." Beginning young: 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 regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from home play with remarkable ease. His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon. Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game. It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years. 'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded. "His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party". With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Courage in Crisis: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment. Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain." A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK. The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country. The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted. "The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said. The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally. "He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Classic footage of their son's matches online 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 are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all." While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy. But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.
The talented player claimed The Masters thrice during a compact but stellar career. Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game. A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim six major trophies in half a dozen years. Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the sport and those who knew him remain as powerful today. 'The game was his life': Early Beginnings "We'd never have known in a million years our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother says. "Yet he just was passionate about it." Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a youth. "He never stopped," he notes. "He would play every night after school." Beginning young: 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 regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from home play with remarkable ease. His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon. Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game. It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years. 'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded. "His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party". With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Courage in Crisis: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment. Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain." A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK. The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country. The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted. "The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said. The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally. "He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Classic footage of their son's matches online 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 are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all." While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy. But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.