'He was a joy': Remembering the sport's taken talent two decades on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in six years.

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

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him persist as powerful today.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum recalls.

"However he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from home play with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

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

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to young people all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: 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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.