'Paul was fun': Remembering the game's departed star a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that went beyond the game he loved, his influence and memory on snooker and those who were close to him persist as powerful today.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years the boy would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He practiced 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 aspiring talent made the jump from miniature games with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never faded.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

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

When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

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

"The goal was for a scheme to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Classic footage 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 a comfort!"

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.