'Paul was fun': Remembering the sport's lost great two decades on.

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

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

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

But despite the passing of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the sport and those who were close to him remain as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years the boy would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter states.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking 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 transition from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed three times, 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 deserted him.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'A Sporting Icon'.

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations 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 played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in local sports centers across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths 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 get kids off the street," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children globally.

"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: 20 Years Later

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

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

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.