'He brought laughter': Remembering the sport's lost great a score of years on.
Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.
A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win six major trophies in six years.
The present year marks two decades since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.
But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him persist as strong as ever.
'He just loved it': Early Beginnings
"We could not have predicted in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter recalls.
"But he just loved it."
Hunter's father recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.
"He never stopped," he says. "He would play every night after school."
After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.
His natural ability would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.
Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion
With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.
It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.
Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.
'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality
But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.
"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."
"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."
Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".
With his easy charm, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.
No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'.
Facing Adversity: His Final Years
In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.
Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.
Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.
When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.
"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."
A Lasting Impact: Giving Back
Hunter's true impact would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.
The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.
The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.
"The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one official said.
The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children all over the world.
"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.
Always Remembered: 20 Years Later
Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".
"I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"
"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."
Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's folklore.
The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, begins later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.
But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
