'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the game's taken talent a score of years on.

All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, caught at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

The present year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the sport he adored, his enduring mark on snooker and those who were close to him endure as powerful today.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a million years the boy would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum states.

"Yet he just adored it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from home play with aplomb.

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

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, 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 lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': A Legacy of Character

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and candid way with the press, 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'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter played on through the illness and received a standing ovation at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major 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 chairman in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

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 at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

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 history.

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

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 never forgotten.