🔗 Share this article 'Paul was fun': Remembering snooker's taken talent two decades on. Paul Hunter claimed The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was compete on the baize. A love for the game, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years. The present year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But in spite of the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him remain as strong as ever. 'His passion was clear': The Formative Years "We could not have predicted in a million years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter states. "Yet he just loved it." His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth. "He never stopped," he says. "He practiced every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was acquainted with snooker from the very young age. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from miniature games with great skill. His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon. Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game. It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. 'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'. A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer In 2005, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple accounts from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment. Despite harsh reactions, 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 succumbed in the mid-2000s, 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 lose a child." A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply. "The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one official said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled." Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. 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 forever celebrated.
Paul Hunter claimed The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was compete on the baize. A love for the game, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years. The present year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But in spite of the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him remain as strong as ever. 'His passion was clear': The Formative Years "We could not have predicted in a million years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter states. "Yet he just loved it." His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth. "He never stopped," he says. "He practiced every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was acquainted with snooker from the very young age. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from miniature games with great skill. His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon. Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game. It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. 'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'. A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer In 2005, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple accounts from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment. Despite harsh reactions, 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 succumbed in the mid-2000s, 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 lose a child." A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply. "The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one official said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated. Never Forgotten: Two Decades On Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled." Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's folklore. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup. 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 forever celebrated.