'He brought laughter': Reflecting on snooker's taken talent 20 years on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A competitive passion, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him secure six significant titles in a six-year span.

The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that rose above the game he loved, his enduring mark on the sport and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

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

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from home play with aplomb.

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

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their young son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

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

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: 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 accessible training to young people all over the country.

The scheme 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 coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up 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.

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

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

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

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

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

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.