'Paul was fun': Reflecting on snooker's lost great 20 years on.

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

A competitive passion, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him secure six significant titles in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the passing of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

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

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "cared little for anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"He never stopped," he notes. "He would play every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be developed by the former world title holder Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their young son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter won on three occasions, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have been the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, 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, anti-social behavior in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a program to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a significant coaching programme, which has provided 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.

Always Remembered: Two Decades On

Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, 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 secured snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.