'He was a joy': Remembering snooker's departed star two decades on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him endure as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a billion years the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a child.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with great skill.

His natural ability would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

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

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

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, 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'.

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

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

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

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

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

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

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences 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 dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.