'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the sport's taken talent 20 years on.

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

A love for the game, developed at the very young 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 secure half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

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

But in spite of the passing of a generational talent that transcended the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the sport and those who were close to him endure as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.

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

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

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

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

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

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

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was christened '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 diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers 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 fell sharply.

"The goal was for a platform 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.

"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

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube 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 are happy to speak about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history.

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 achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.