'He was a joy': Honoring the sport's departed star two decades on.

Everything the young snooker player always wished to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career remain as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

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

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap 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 north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their young son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter won on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, 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 adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact 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 no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

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

"The goal was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

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

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.