'Paul was fun': Honoring snooker's lost great two decades on.

Everything the young snooker player always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A competitive passion, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him claim six significant titles in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on snooker and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," his mother recalls.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He would play 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 young Hunter made the leap from home play with great skill.

His raw skill would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never left him.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

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

With his natural likability, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a program to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.