'Paul was fun': Remembering the sport's lost great 20 years on.

All Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who knew him endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a million years Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter states.

"But he just loved it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a child.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He would play 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 budding player made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their adolescent 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 only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"When encountering 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 daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally.

"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: 20 Years Later

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube 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 don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor 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 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.