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

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the loss of a phenomenal skill that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years the boy would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He competed 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 budding player made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

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 mid-teens to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The charity in his name, 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, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

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

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

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

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

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

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.