'Paul was fun': Remembering 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, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would result in a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in six years.

Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the sport and those who were close to him endure as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter states.

"Yet he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never deserted him.

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

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

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The foundation he inspired, 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, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

"The goal was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one official said.

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

"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

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

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

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's history.

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

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.