'He was a joy': Remembering the game's taken talent 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

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

But despite the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the sport and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum recalls.

"However he just loved it."

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

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play 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 home play with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

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

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

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

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

"The goal was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet 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 are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's folklore.

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 successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.