'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the game's departed star 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

This year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him remain as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a billion years Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'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 deserted him.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

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

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

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

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

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's history.

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

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.