'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the sport's lost great 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

The present year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his influence and memory on the game and those who followed his career remain as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete 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 autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

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

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected 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 concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.