'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's lost great 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on snooker and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

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

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their young son had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.

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

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

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

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

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

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people 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 scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one official said.

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

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

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

"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 talk than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.