'He brought laughter': Honoring snooker's lost great 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A sporting bug, sparked at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would result in a pro playing days that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

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

"However he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," he notes. "He competed every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from home play with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his easy charm, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork 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.

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "close to him".

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

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's history.

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

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.