'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny 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 six years.

This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his enduring mark on snooker and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter states.

"But he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

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

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

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

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

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

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

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

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

While 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 history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins 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 spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.