'Paul was fun': Remembering the sport's taken talent a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, sparked 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 half a dozen years.

The present year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career persist as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a million years the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just adored it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from table top snooker with aplomb.

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

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never deserted him.

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

"When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

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

The charity in his name, 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 fell sharply.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has provided 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.

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, 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 ingrained in the sport's history.

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

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.