'Paul was fun': Honoring the sport's departed star 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who followed his career persist as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum recalls.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from table top snooker with great skill.

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

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, 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 down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

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

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had 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 public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation 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.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

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

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

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up 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 "connected to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's legend.

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

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.