'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the game's taken talent two decades on.

All the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who knew him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a million years our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother states.

"However he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

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

After repeatedly pleading with 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 transition from home play with aplomb.

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

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, 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 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 involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': 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.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a program to help get kids off the street," one official said.

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

"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: Two Decades On

Historic matches 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 anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

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

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, begins later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.