'Paul was fun': Honoring the game's departed star a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

This year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter died from cancer, days short to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the passing of a phenomenal skill that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the sport and those who followed his career endure as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

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

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully dedicate himself to building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': A Legacy of Character

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

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

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

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

With his natural likability, handsome features and honest interview style, 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'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a program to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Historic matches of their son's matches on YouTube 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 like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's ultimate trophy is etched into the sport's legend.

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 achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.