'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's taken talent two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a billion years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He practiced 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 budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never left him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

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

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact 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 youths all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly.

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

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended 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.

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

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

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into 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 accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.