'He brought laughter': Remembering the sport's taken talent two decades on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny 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 six years.

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

But notwithstanding the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who followed his career persist as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We'd never have known in a million years Paul would become a pro on the circuit," his mother recalls.

"However he just adored it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. 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 only the top competitors, Hunter won on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "humorous, caring" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas plummeted.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major 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.

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

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 whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be recalled."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, begins later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.