'He brought laughter': Reflecting on snooker's lost great two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, sparked at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks 20 years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport 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 billion years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

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

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

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

"It is tragic," 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 impact would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, 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, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

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

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is etched into 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 successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.