'He brought laughter': Remembering the game's taken talent a score of years on.

All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, caught at the very young 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 win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him remain as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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 like him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

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

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

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

"The goal was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

"He would have embraced 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

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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.