Here's a timeline of Paul Hunter's Life

• 1978 - Born in Yorkshire, England.
• 1987 - Awarded the best junior snooker player of the year.
• 1990 - "outstanding junior talent". He won many junior tournaments.
• 1992 - at the age of 14 he won the English Doubles Championship with Richard Brooke.
• 1995 - made his debut among the professionals at the age of 16.
• 1998 - his first ranking tournament victory came at the 1998 Welsh Open, where he defeated John Higgins (9-5) to lift the title and claim the £60,000 winner's cheque.
• 2001 - Hunter won his first Masters defeating Fergal O'Brien (10-9) and earned the £175,000 first prize.
• 2002 - Hunter retains his Masters title defeating Mark Williams (10–9), despite at one point of the match trailing (0–5).
• 2004 - he won his 3rd Masters title defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the finals.
• 2005 - Hunter announced that he was suffering from malignant neuroendocrine tumours in his stomach.
• 2006 - dies at the age of 28.

Remembering Paul

Paul just stood out a mile. He was just so good for our game. It’s just a dreadfully sad loss. He would have certainly been a world champion, that’s for sure.

- - Dennis Taylor

World Snooker Champion (1985)

Paul certainly brought a touch of glamour to the game - they called him 'the Beckham of the baize'. And his performances at Wembley were fantastic. To win three titles was tremendous. He was a happy-go-lucky man, always played with a smile on his face and never had a bad word to say about anyone.

- - John Parrott

World Snooker Champion (1991)

I watched Paul Hunter, he was a phenomenal talent and it’s a shame obviously that no one ever got to see him lift the world title.

- - Peter Lines

World Rank - 42

Paul Hunter's Legacy

Fellow professionals Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Jimmy White, Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty led calls for the Masters trophy to be named in Hunter's memory. Instead, the then non-ranking German Open in Fürth was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic in his honour; a tournament first won by Hunter. Also, in 2007, the amateur English Open tournament was renamed the Paul Hunter English Open.

On 20 April 2016, the Masters trophy was renamed in Hunter's honour. World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said that the organization "messed up" by not doing so sooner.