'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's departed star 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, caught at the very young 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 claim six significant titles in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"Yet he just loved it."

His dad remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play 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 aspiring talent made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never faded.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world 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 standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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 plummeted.

"The aim remained for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize 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, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.