'Paul was fun': Remembering the sport's lost great 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in six years.

Now marks two decades since the adored Hunter died from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on snooker and those who knew him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum recalls.

"Yet he just loved it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: 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 fourteen years old to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their adolescent 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 a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks 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 dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception 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 is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

"The idea was for a program to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has extended 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 senior official in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

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

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

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

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

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