'He was a joy': Remembering the game's lost great two decades on.

Everything Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

The present year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the loss of a generational talent that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on the game and those who were close to him endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter states.

"However he just loved it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with 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 leap from miniature games with aplomb.

His raw skill would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never deserted him.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by 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 "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features 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 christened 'A Sporting Icon'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children 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 platform to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: 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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

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

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

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is always remembered.