'He was a joy': Honoring the game's departed star two decades on.
Everything the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was practice the game.
A competitive passion, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.
This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.
But in spite of the passing of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him endure as powerful today.
'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings
"We'd never have known in a billion years the boy would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.
"However he just adored it."
His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.
"He never stopped," he adds. "He competed every night after school."
After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from table top snooker with great skill.
His mercurial talent would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.
Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion
With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.
It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.
Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years.
'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character
But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never deserted him.
"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."
"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."
Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".
With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.
No wonder then, that he was christened 'The Beckham of the Baize'.
Facing Adversity: His Final Years
In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.
Multiple stories from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.
Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.
When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.
"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."
An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back
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 accessible training 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 offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.
The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.
"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
Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".
"I can watch it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"
"We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."
Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's folklore.
The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.
But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
