'Paul was fun': Remembering the game's departed star a score of years on.

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

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him secure six major trophies in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a generational talent that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum says.

"However he just adored it."

His dad remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"He never stopped," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, 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 lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter won a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.

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

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple stories from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, 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 October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

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

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

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.