'He was a joy': Honoring the game's departed star a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player always wished to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him persist as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

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

"However he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with 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 transition from miniature games with great skill.

His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Quick Success: 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 "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never left him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance 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 dubbed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary commitment 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 tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit 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 legacy would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people 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 program to help get kids off the street," one official said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant 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

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, 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 dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.