'He brought laughter': Honoring snooker's taken talent a score of years on.

All the young snooker player truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who followed his career persist as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, 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 Snooker World's Beckham'.

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles 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 scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "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 highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's legend.

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 accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.