'Paul was fun': Remembering snooker's departed star two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

Now marks two decades since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the sport and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states.

"However he just adored it."

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

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas 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 fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son 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 only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

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

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" 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 considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

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

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

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

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

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

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

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's legend.

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 spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.