'He brought laughter': Remembering the game's lost great 20 years on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A competitive passion, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the loss of a generational talent that transcended the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him persist as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a career sportsman," his mother says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed 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 humble charm never deserted him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises 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 Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, 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 lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching 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 aim remained for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's history.

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

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