'Paul was fun': Honoring the sport's lost great two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in six years.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who followed his career endure as powerful today.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years the boy would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"But he just adored it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as the game dominated, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter was victorious three times, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "Paul was fun. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

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

Multiple anecdotes from across the snooker circuit attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in October 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to go through that pain."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to children all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a platform to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis 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 "connected to him".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

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

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.