'He was a joy': Honoring the game's departed star 20 years on.

All the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on the game and those who followed his career remain as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum says.

"But he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

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

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

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

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

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant 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 senior official in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

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