'He brought laughter': Honoring the sport's lost great a score of years on.

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

A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the loss of a phenomenal skill that rose above the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

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

"However he just loved it."

His dad recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

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

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: 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 children all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

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

"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: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's folklore.

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

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.