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

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

A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win six significant titles in a six-year span.

Now marks two decades since the adored Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a career sportsman," his mother says.

"Yet he just adored it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from home play with aplomb.

His natural ability would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

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

'A Cheeky Charm': 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 connected with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

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

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though 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, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

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