'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the game's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would result in a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in six years.

This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the passing of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a million years Paul would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum states.

"But he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He competed every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from home play with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

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

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

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

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

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

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact 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 accessible training to youths all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

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

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

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.