'Paul was fun': Remembering the sport's departed star a score of years on.

All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him claim six significant titles in six years.

The present year marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But despite the passing of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on snooker and those who followed his career endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a professional snooker player," his mother states.

"However he just loved it."

His dad recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a child.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: From Teenager to Champion

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

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

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

"The goal was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be spoken of."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor 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 memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.