🔗 Share this article 'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's lost great 20 years on. The talented player secured The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. Everything the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was play snooker. A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him secure six major trophies in half a dozen years. This year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But in spite of the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the game and those who were close to him remain as powerful today. 'He just loved it': Early Beginnings "We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says. "But he just loved it." Hunter's father recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy. "He never stopped," he notes. "He competed every night after school." Beginning young: Hunter was introduced to snooker from the toddler years. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from table top snooker with aplomb. His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon. Quick Success: The Path to Glory With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, 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 paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their young son had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party". With his effortless appeal, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'. Facing Adversity: Illness and Resilience In that year, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment. Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year. When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members. "The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK. The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country. The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one organizer said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can access it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of." While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy. But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
The talented player secured The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. Everything the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was play snooker. A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him secure six major trophies in half a dozen years. This year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But in spite of the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the game and those who were close to him remain as powerful today. 'He just loved it': Early Beginnings "We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says. "But he just loved it." Hunter's father recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy. "He never stopped," he notes. "He competed every night after school." Beginning young: Hunter was introduced to snooker from the toddler years. After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from table top snooker with aplomb. His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon. Quick Success: The Path to Glory With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, 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 paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their young son had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s. 'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party". With his effortless appeal, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'. Facing Adversity: Illness and Resilience In that year, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment. Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year. When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members. "The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK. The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country. The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one organizer said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can access it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of." While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy. But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.