'He was a joy': Remembering the game's taken talent 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, sparked at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"We'd never have known in a lifetime our son would become a pro on the circuit," his mother recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from miniature games with great skill.

His natural ability would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club 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 focus on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their young son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': 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 was liked by everybody."

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution 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 children all over the country.

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

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

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

"It would have thrilled him 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 "close to him".

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

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.