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

All Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum says.

"However he just loved it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He competed 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 jump from home play with great skill.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb 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 "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter won a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never left him.

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

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The aim remained for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

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

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

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

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.