🔗 Share this article 'Paul was fun': Remembering the game's taken talent 20 years on. The talented player claimed The Masters three times during a brief yet brilliant career. All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was practice the game. A competitive passion, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him claim six significant titles in a six-year span. Now marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who followed his career endure as vibrant now. 'He just loved it': Early Beginnings "We could not have predicted in a million years the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls. "However he just adored it." His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a young boy. "He was relentless," he notes. "He competed every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the age of three. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from miniature games with aplomb. His mercurial talent would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party". With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year. When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK. The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted. "The goal was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said. The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up 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 Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him". "I can bring it up and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!" "We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of." Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.
The talented player claimed The Masters three times during a brief yet brilliant career. All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was practice the game. A competitive passion, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him claim six significant titles in a six-year span. Now marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who followed his career endure as vibrant now. 'He just loved it': Early Beginnings "We could not have predicted in a million years the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls. "However he just adored it." His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a young boy. "He was relentless," he notes. "He competed every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the age of three. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from miniature games with aplomb. His mercurial talent would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party". With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year. When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK. The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted. "The goal was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said. The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up 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 Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him". "I can bring it up and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!" "We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of." Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.