'Paul was fun': Honoring the sport's departed star a score of years on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him secure six significant titles in six years.

Now marks two decades since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': 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 enjoy his company," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to youths all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

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

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

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches online 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 are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, 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 eventually won snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's legend.

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 accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.