🔗 Share this article 'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the game's taken talent a score of years on. The snooker star won The Masters on three occasions during a compact but stellar career. All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker. A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six significant titles in half a dozen years. This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him persist as vibrant now. 'The game was his life': Early Beginnings "It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother says. "Yet he just adored it." Alan Hunter recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child. "He never stopped," he says. "He competed every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was acquainted with snooker from the age of three. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with aplomb. His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue 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 practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. 'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks 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 Snooker World's Beckham'. A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple stories from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment. Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly. "The aim remained for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said. The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children globally. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated. Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all." Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's legend. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor. But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.
The snooker star won The Masters on three occasions during a compact but stellar career. All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker. A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six significant titles in half a dozen years. This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him persist as vibrant now. 'The game was his life': Early Beginnings "It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother says. "Yet he just adored it." Alan Hunter recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child. "He never stopped," he says. "He competed every night after school." A prodigy: Hunter was acquainted with snooker from the age of three. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with aplomb. His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue 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 practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. 'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody." "If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks 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 Snooker World's Beckham'. A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy. Multiple stories from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment. Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss." An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly. "The aim remained for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said. The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children globally. "It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated. Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him". "I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all." Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's legend. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor. But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.