'He brought laughter': Honoring the game's lost great 20 years on.
All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.
A sporting bug, sparked 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 result in a life on the tour that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.
Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.
But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on snooker and those who followed his career remain as powerful today.
'He just loved it': Early Beginnings
"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother says.
"Yet he just was passionate about it."
Hunter's father recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.
"He was relentless," he says. "He competed every night after school."
After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with great skill.
His natural ability would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.
Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion
With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.
It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.
Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue
But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.
"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."
"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."
Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".
With his easy charm, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.
No wonder then, that he was christened 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.
A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience
In 2005, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.
Multiple stories from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.
Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.
When he succumbed in autumn 2006, 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 lose a child."
An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation
Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs 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 initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly.
"The idea was for a platform 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 globally.
"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated.
Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence
Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".
"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"
"We are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."
Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's legend.
The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.
But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
