'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's lost great a score of years on.
All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.
A sporting bug, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win six major trophies in six years.
This year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.
But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that transcended the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the sport and those who knew him remain as strong as ever.
'He just loved it': Early Beginnings
"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.
"But he just adored it."
Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.
"He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."
After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.
His natural ability would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.
Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion
With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.
It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, 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 involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character
But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.
"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."
"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."
Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".
With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.
No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'.
A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience
In that year, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.
Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.
Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.
When he passed away in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.
"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."
An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back
Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK.
The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.
The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.
"The aim remained for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said.
The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.
"It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.
Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later
Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".
"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"
"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."
Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift 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 memorial cup.
But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.
