'He was a joy': Reflecting on the sport's taken talent a score of years on.

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

A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his influence and memory on snooker and those who followed his career persist as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"We'd never have known in a million years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," his mother states.

"However he just adored it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He practiced 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 table top snooker with great skill.

His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

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

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. 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 "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

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

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

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

"I can watch 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 mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.