'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's lost great 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

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

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the sport and those who were close to him persist as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a professional snooker player," his mother states.

"Yet he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he adds. "He practiced 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 young Hunter made the transition from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed a trio of 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 approachable nature never left 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 states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

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

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

"The goal was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk 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 top honor is ingrained in the sport's history.

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

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.