'He was a joy': Honoring the sport's departed star a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

Now marks two decades since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a generational talent that transcended the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who followed his career remain as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

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

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering 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 jump from home play with remarkable ease.

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

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, 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 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 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 success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

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

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

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

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

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches online 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 continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

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

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

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