'He brought laughter': Honoring snooker's departed star two decades on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was compete on the baize.

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 Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him secure six major trophies in a six-year span.

The present year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum 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 adds. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering 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 miniature games with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, 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 was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," 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 mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, 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 forever celebrated.