'He brought laughter': Remembering the sport's departed star a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the sport and those who knew him remain as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a lifetime the boy would become a professional snooker player," his mother says.

"However he just adored it."

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

"He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with 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 leap from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter won a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never deserted him.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple stories from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

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

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs 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 program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

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

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's legend.

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

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.