'He was a joy': Reflecting on snooker's taken talent a score of years on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was practice the game.

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 pro playing days that saw him win six significant titles in six years.

This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a generational talent that rose above the game he loved, his influence and memory on the game and those who knew him endure as vibrant now.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years the boy would become a career sportsman," Hunter's mum recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from miniature games with remarkable ease.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, 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 was a resounding success. Within five years, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter was victorious a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

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

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

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: 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 snooker circuit speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in the mid-2000s, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Lasting Impact: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

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

"The idea was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a significant coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

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

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be spoken of."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor 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 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.