'He was a joy': Honoring the sport's departed star a score of years on.

All Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, developed at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him win half a dozen major wins in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter died from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the sport he adored, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who knew him remain as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter says.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

His dad recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" besides snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He practiced 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 great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now defunct club in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter was victorious three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

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

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

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

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

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

A Brave Battle: His Final Years

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in October 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its cherished personalities.

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

An Enduring Legacy: The Paul Hunter Foundation

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The aim remained for a platform to help get kids off the street," one official 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: A Lasting Presence

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

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

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

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's history.

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

But for all his achievements, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.