'He was a joy': Honoring the game's taken talent a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his family's living room table in his Leeds home, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the game he loved, his enduring mark on the sport and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years our son would become a professional snooker player," his mother says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be coached by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his effortless appeal, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles but in local sports centers 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 get kids off the street," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant 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.

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "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 common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.