'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's taken talent two decades on.

All Paul Hunter truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

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

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a lifetime the boy would become a pro on the circuit," his mother says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country.

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

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's legend.

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

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.