'He was a joy': Remembering snooker's taken talent 20 years on.

All Paul Hunter truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that went beyond the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the game and those who knew him persist as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

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

"But he just loved it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He would play every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from home play with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. 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 "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments 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 standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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 young people all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a platform to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

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

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

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.