'He brought laughter': Remembering the sport's departed star a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent truly desired to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

This year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a phenomenal skill that transcended the pastime he cherished, his enduring mark on snooker and those who knew him endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father recalls how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After persistently asking 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 miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "chance" 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 five years, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"If you met him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's widow 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 effortless appeal, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: Illness and Resilience

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

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

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

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

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

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact 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 scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas dropped significantly.

"The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up 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: A Lasting Presence

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 marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won 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 memorial cup.

But for all his successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.