'He brought laughter': Remembering snooker's taken talent two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him claim six major trophies in half a dozen years.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the passing of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the game and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a million years Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"But he just was passionate about it."

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

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from home play with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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 found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

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

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

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion 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 forever linked, commences 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 personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.