'He was a joy': Remembering the game's taken talent 20 years on.

All Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would result in a pro playing days that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in six years.

This year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the game he loved, his enduring mark on the sport and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won 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 left him.

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, 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 that year, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

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

The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The idea was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

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

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, 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 gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts 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 brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.