'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's departed star a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

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 fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter won three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

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

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

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

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, 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 candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he played at 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. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

"The idea was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

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

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.