'He brought laughter': Honoring the sport's lost great 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who were close to him remain as powerful today.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"But he just loved it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He competed 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 budding player made the transition from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, 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 paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

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

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, 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: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in 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 is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience 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 free snooker sessions to young people all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube 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 like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's legend.

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

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.