'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the sport's taken talent 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win six significant titles in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on the game and those who were close to him persist as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.

"But he just loved it."

His dad recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

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

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

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

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

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

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

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

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

The program was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a platform to help get kids off the street," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

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

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

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

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.