'He was a joy': Honoring the game's lost great a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would lead to a professional career that saw him claim six major trophies in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the popular Hunter succumbed to cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the tragic departure of a generational talent that rose above the sport he adored, his influence and memory on the sport and those who followed his career remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime the boy would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"Yet he just was passionate about it."

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

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the jump from table top snooker with aplomb.

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

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as training came first, his parents took the "chance" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully concentrate on forging a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within half a decade, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

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.

'Paul was fun': A Legacy of Character

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "humorous, caring" and "never the first to depart from 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 nicknamed 'A Sporting Icon'.

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the professional tour attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while going through treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit 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 Lasting Impact: Inspiring Youth

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

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

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

"The aim remained for a platform to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Never Forgotten: A Lasting Presence

Archive videos of their son's matches on YouTube help his parents stay "connected to him".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is etched into the sport's legend.

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 accomplishments, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.