'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's lost great 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him persist as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years the boy would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"But he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He would play 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 transition from table top snooker with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

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

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

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

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," 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 snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant 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: Two Decades On

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

While 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 legend.

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

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.