'Paul was fun': Reflecting on snooker's departed star 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him claim six significant titles in a six-year span.

Now marks two decades since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who knew him persist as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states.

"However he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby 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 practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent 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 was victorious on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

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

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

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit 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: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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 dropped significantly.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one official said.

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

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

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