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

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, caught at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

This year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on snooker and those who were close to him endure as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.

"Yet he just loved it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from miniature games with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The charity in his name, 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, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

Classic footage of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the common opinion 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 synonymous, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.