'Paul was fun': Honoring the game's lost great two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, sparked at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years Paul would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum says.

"However he just loved it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

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

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his family's urging 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 was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. 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 "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

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

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

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

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

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

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

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 folklore.

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 accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.