'He brought laughter': Remembering snooker's taken talent 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would result in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in six years.

The present year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who were close to him remain as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.

"Yet he just adored it."

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

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, 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 increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, 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 prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

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

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

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

"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected 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 continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy 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 achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.