'He brought laughter': Honoring the game's lost great a score of years on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him secure six major trophies in six years.

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

But in spite of the tragic departure of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

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

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering 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 leap from home play with great skill.

His natural ability would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" 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 a short period, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, 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 Snooker World's Beckham'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

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 snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

"The goal was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

Even though 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 history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, 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 character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.