'He brought laughter': Remembering snooker's lost great two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career persist as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas 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 age of 14 to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter won three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never left him.

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

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, 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: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

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

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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 dropped significantly.

"The goal was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, starts 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 spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.