'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's lost great 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

Now marks 20 years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a billion years Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just loved it."

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

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He competed every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from miniature games with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, 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, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple stories from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation 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 is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true impact 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 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 scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

"Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief 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 most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.