'He brought laughter': Honoring snooker's lost great a score of years on.

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

A competitive passion, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him claim six significant titles in a six-year span.

Now marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the game and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a career sportsman," his mother recalls.

"But he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he adds. "He would play every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from table top snooker with aplomb.

His raw skill would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in the early 2000s.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

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

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

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

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

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

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

Always Remembered: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."

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

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, 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 dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.