'He was a joy': Remembering the sport's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A sporting bug, developed at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the game and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'He just loved it': A Childhood Obsession

"We could not have predicted in a lifetime the boy would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"But he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the Leeds district 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 "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 adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of elite players only, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

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

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina states. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre 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 best-loved members.

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

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

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

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

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

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

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be recalled."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

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 accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.