'He brought laughter': Reflecting on snooker's taken talent two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.

The present year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who were close to him endure as powerful today.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states.

"Yet he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He never stopped," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from home play with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. 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 "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity 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: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to youths all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

"The idea was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

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

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

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, 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 personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.