'Paul was fun': Reflecting on snooker's departed star 20 years on.

All the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A competitive passion, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who followed his career endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," his mother says.

"Yet he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

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

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

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."

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

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

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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

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

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief 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 most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.