'He was a joy': Remembering the sport's lost great a score of years on.
All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.
A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.
This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.
But in spite of the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his influence and memory on snooker and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.
'The game was his life': Early Beginnings
"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.
"But he just adored it."
His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.
"He was relentless," he says. "He practiced 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 young Hunter made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.
His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.
Rapid Rise: A Star is Born
With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.
It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.
Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed 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 approachable nature never faded.
"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."
"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."
Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" 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 prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.
No wonder then, that he was christened 'A Sporting Icon'.
Courage in Crisis: His Final Years
In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.
Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.
Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.
When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.
"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."
A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back
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 accessible training to young people all over the country.
The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.
"The goal was for a program to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.
The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major 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.
Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence
Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".
"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"
"We are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."
Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's legend.
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 successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.
