'Paul was fun': Honoring the game's taken talent a score of years on.

All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would result in a life on the tour that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a pro on the circuit," his mother recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a child.

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

After persistently asking 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 miniature games with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent 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 triumphed three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never faded.

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution 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 no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

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

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

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

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured 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 Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.