'He brought laughter': Honoring snooker's departed star 20 years on.

All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

This year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a phenomenal skill that rose above the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him persist as powerful today.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.

"But he just loved it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from miniature games with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

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 building a career in the game.

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

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, 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.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

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

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's folklore.

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

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.