'He was a joy': Reflecting on the game's taken talent a score of years on.

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

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would lead to a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the sport and those who knew him persist as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years our son would become a pro on the circuit," his mother says.

"However he just adored it."

His dad recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from table top snooker with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their still-teenage 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 exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious three times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. 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 "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

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

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

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

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has extended 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 on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, commences later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.