'He was a joy': Honoring snooker's departed star a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum says.

"Yet he just loved it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from home play with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never left him.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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 chemotherapy.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, 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: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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 free snooker sessions to young people all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches via the internet 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 a comfort!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won 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 accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.