'Paul was fun': Reflecting on snooker's lost great two decades on.

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

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

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

But in spite of the tragic departure of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who were close to him persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from table top snooker with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: 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 "chance" 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 five years, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

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

"The aim remained for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one official said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge 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

Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's legend.

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

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