'He brought laughter': Remembering snooker's departed star a score of years on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

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

But notwithstanding the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the game and those who were close to him remain as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter states.

"However he just adored it."

His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"His dedication was constant," he notes. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from miniature games with aplomb.

His natural ability would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

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

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

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

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

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

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

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

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

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has opened up 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 leading figure in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, 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 forever celebrated.