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

All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him secure six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the sport and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter states.

"But he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"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 regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.

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

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their young son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

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

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

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

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

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

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true impact 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 accessible training to young people all over the country.

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

"The goal was for a platform 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.

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

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

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.