'He brought laughter': Reflecting on snooker's lost great a score of years on.

All Paul Hunter truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him claim six significant titles in half a dozen years.

This year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his enduring mark on snooker and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"We could not have predicted in a billion years the boy would become a career sportsman," his mother states.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a child.

"His dedication was constant," he says. "He competed every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the transition from miniature games with great skill.

His raw skill would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Quick Success: From Teenager to Champion

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the involvement of only the top competitors, Hunter was victorious on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

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

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

"When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina continues. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features 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 christened 'A Sporting Icon'.

Courage in Crisis: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary dedication to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

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

A Foundation for the Future: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide free snooker sessions to children all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a program to help get kids off the street," one official said.

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

"Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have secured snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.