'He was a joy': Reflecting on snooker's departed star 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, caught at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a generational talent that transcended the sport he adored, his enduring mark on snooker and those who were close to him persist as vibrant now.

'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 recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a child.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced 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 budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His raw skill 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: A Star is Born

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 fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

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

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

"The goal was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up 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.

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet 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 adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

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