'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's departed star 20 years on.
All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.
A sporting bug, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee 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 two decades since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.
But notwithstanding the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him endure as strong as ever.
'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings
"We could not have predicted in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.
"But he just adored it."
Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.
"He never stopped," he notes. "He competed every night after school."
After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with great skill.
His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.
Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion
With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.
It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.
Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in the early 2000s.
'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character
But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.
"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."
"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."
Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".
With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.
No wonder then, that he was christened 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.
Facing Adversity: His Final Years
In 2005, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.
Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.
Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.
When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.
"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."
A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation
Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.
The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.
The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.
"The idea was for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.
The Foundation helped establish the basis 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: Two Decades On
Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".
"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"
"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."
While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's history.
The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.
But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.
