'He brought laughter': Honoring the game's lost great two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in half a dozen years.

Now marks two decades since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just loved it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

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

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

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

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people 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 platform to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant 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 senior official in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's legend.

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 successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.