'He was a joy': Honoring the game's lost great two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

Now marks a score of years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother says.

"However he just was passionate about it."

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

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from home play with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner 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 effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: Illness and Resilience

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing 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. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

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

The charity in his name, 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, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

"The idea was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major 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: Two Decades On

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

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

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

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