'Paul was fun': Honoring the sport's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, developed at the 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 life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

The present year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the loss of a phenomenal skill that rose above the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years the boy would become a professional snooker player," his mother says.

"However he just adored it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His natural ability would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, 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."

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple stories from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

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

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles 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 scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

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

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Classic footage 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 at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's folklore.

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 accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.