'Paul was fun': Honoring the sport's taken talent two decades on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win six major trophies in half a dozen years.

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

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on snooker and those who knew him persist as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He competed 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 young Hunter made the transition from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their young son had won his initial major win, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

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 got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, 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: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete 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 succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

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

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

"The idea was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

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

"Paul would have loved 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

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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's legend.

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

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.