'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's taken talent 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player always wished to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his influence and memory on the game and those who followed his career persist as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"He never stopped," he says. "He competed every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

His natural ability would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter won three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

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 charity in his name, 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, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up 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 senior official in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.