'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the sport's lost great two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was practice the game.

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 Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in half a dozen years.

This year marks two decades since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a generational talent that transcended the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a billion years our son would become a pro on the circuit," his mother recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," 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 transition from home play with great skill.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.

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

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new 21st Century.

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

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have marked the zenith of his talent, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

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

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena 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.

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

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to youths all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

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

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

"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: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "close to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "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 widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is a part of the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins 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 character, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.