'Paul was fun': Honoring the game's departed star two decades on.

All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on the sport and those who were close to him remain as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a million years our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just adored it."

His dad remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a child.

"He was relentless," he says. "He practiced 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 aspiring talent made the jump from home play with aplomb.

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

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

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

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his easy charm, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, 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'.

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience 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 royal circles but in snooker halls and clubs 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 initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge 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 senior official in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

Classic footage 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 at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody mention him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is etched into the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, starts 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 brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is always remembered.