'He brought laughter': Honoring the sport's departed star 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him persist as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just loved it."

His dad remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He would play 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 budding player made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

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

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

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 forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

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."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly.

"The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.