'He was a joy': Honoring the game's departed star 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a generational talent that transcended the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

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

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking 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 jump from table top snooker with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his prodigious ability, 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: Illness and Resilience

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

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

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete 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 October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

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

"The goal was for a platform to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has provided 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.

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor 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 accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.