'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's departed star two decades on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was play snooker.

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 Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

The present year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother states.

"But he just loved it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from home play with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

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

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

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

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge 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.

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.