'He was a joy': Reflecting on snooker's departed star two decades on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

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

But in spite of the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career remain as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter states.

"However he just adored it."

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

"He was relentless," he notes. "He competed every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for 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 lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

The program 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 coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

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

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

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.