'He was a joy': Remembering the game's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him secure six major trophies in six years.

The present year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum recalls.

"However he just loved it."

His dad recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He would play every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

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

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

"The goal 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 globally.

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "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 gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's history.

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

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.