🔗 Share this article 'He was a joy': Remembering the sport's departed star two decades on. Paul Hunter claimed The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was practice the game. A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him secure six significant titles in a six-year span. This year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who knew him endure as strong as ever. 'The game was his life': The Formative Years "We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says. "Yet he just loved it." Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a child. "He never stopped," he says. "He would play every night after school." Beginning young: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the toddler years. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from miniature games with great skill. His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Quick Success: The Path to Glory With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years. 'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era. No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year. When he passed away 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 go through that pain." A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children all over the world. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Forever in Memory: Two Decades On Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him". "I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, 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 legend. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins 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 character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.
Paul Hunter claimed The Masters thrice during a short but glittering career. Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was practice the game. A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him secure six significant titles in a six-year span. This year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday. But despite the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who knew him endure as strong as ever. 'The game was his life': The Formative Years "We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says. "Yet he just loved it." Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a child. "He never stopped," he says. "He would play every night after school." Beginning young: Hunter was familiar with snooker from the toddler years. After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from miniature games with great skill. His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Quick Success: The Path to Glory With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years. 'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him. "He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease." Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party". With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era. No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'. Facing Adversity: His Final Years In that year, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment. Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year. When he passed away 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 go through that pain." A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK. The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children all over the world. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Forever in Memory: Two Decades On Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him". "I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!" "We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, 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 legend. The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins 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 character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.