'He brought laughter': Honoring the game's lost great two decades on.

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

A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win six major trophies in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His natural ability would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

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 focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina states. "He brought joy. 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 "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

Facing Adversity: 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 stories from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to youths all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's legend.

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

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.