'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's lost great a score of years on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him secure six major trophies in six years.

This year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him persist as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," his mother states.

"However he just adored it."

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

"He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 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 maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his natural likability, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he played at 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 lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The charity in his name, 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, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

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

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy 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 Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.