'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the game's departed star a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

This year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

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 endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from table top snooker with great skill.

His raw skill would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

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

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their young son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.

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

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

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

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

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

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in 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 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.