'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's lost great a score of years on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him claim six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," 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 full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community 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: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

"The idea was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.