'Paul was fun': Reflecting on snooker's taken talent 20 years on.

Everything Paul Hunter always wished to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in his Leeds home, would result in a professional career that saw him win six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the loss of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his influence and memory on snooker and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"We could not have predicted in a million years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from miniature games with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework often being ignored as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on forging 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 Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

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

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave 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 21st Century.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

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

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

A Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

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

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

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has provided 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 chairman in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Historic matches 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 at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is a part of 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 successes, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.