'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's taken talent two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

This year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he says. "He practiced 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 young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

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

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son 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 elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," 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 recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's legend.

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

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.