🔗 Share this article 'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's taken talent a score of years on. Paul Hunter won The Masters on three occasions during a brief yet brilliant career. Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was compete on the baize. A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span. Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career remain as vibrant now. 'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings "It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says. "Yet he just loved it." His dad recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child. "He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school." Early starter: Hunter was introduced to snooker from the toddler years. After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease. His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Quick Success: A Star is Born With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, 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 approachable nature never left him. "His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party". With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple stories from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness 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 famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child." A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth Hunter's true contribution 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 accessible training to youths all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one organizer said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Always Remembered: 20 Years Later Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him". "I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!" "We are happy to speak 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 etched into the sport's history. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor. But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.
Paul Hunter won The Masters on three occasions during a brief yet brilliant career. Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was compete on the baize. A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span. Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday. But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career remain as vibrant now. 'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings "It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says. "Yet he just loved it." His dad recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child. "He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school." Early starter: Hunter was introduced to snooker from the toddler years. After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease. His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon. Quick Success: A Star is Born With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game. It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open. Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, 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 approachable nature never left him. "His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody." "When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable." Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party". With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium. No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'. Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy. Multiple stories from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness 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 famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year. When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers. "It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child." A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth Hunter's true contribution 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 accessible training to youths all over the country. The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly. "The idea was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one organizer said. The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally. "Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated. Always Remembered: 20 Years Later Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him". "I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!" "We are happy to speak 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 etched into the sport's history. The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor. But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.