'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's taken talent two decades on.

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

A sporting bug, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win six major trophies in half a dozen years.

The present year marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the passing of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a pro on the circuit," his mother states.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from miniature games with great skill.

His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

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

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent 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 only the top competitors, Hunter won a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'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.

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

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

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

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

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

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

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

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, 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 dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.