Burnell Nemmetz
Kieth Nemmetz
John Bonikowske
Arthur Pethke
Artie Pethke
Taylor Pethke
Logan Pethke
Steve Handrich
Gary Schoen
Merlin Becker
For more information about St. Mark's Dartball Team Contact Burnell or Kieth Nemmetz -- (920)596-3439
American Style Darts
By Ralph Hickok
. . . . .Returning to Dan William Peek's research: He was unable
to find any evidence that darts was played in the United States before 1915, though he suspects it may have begun somewhat earlier
than that.
There is a tradition that America's first dartboard was made about 1915 by John Pearson, an English immigrant who operated
a tavern in Philadelphia. His son later founded the Dartboard Equipment Company, better known as DECO.
The Apex Manufacturing Company,
which originally made wooden ladders, began producing dartboards some time before 1920. The Widdy Company, which was founded in 1908
to sharpen razor blades, got into the darts business during the 1920s.
But American darters got away from British darts and created
their own version of the sport, founded on baseball. That resulted in the so-called American-style dartboard, on which the numbers
1 through 9 are circled, since those are the chief targets. A baseball darts match is made up of 9 innings (extra innings if necessary).
Each player throws three darts per inning and the target is the number that represents that inning; that is, 1 in the first inning,
2 in the second inning, and so on. The American-style board was patented by DECO in 1937, but it had been invented some time before
that, possibly in the late 1920s.
Another unique American game, dartball, was probably inspired by baseball darts, although it's very
different. The dartball board is a a large square with target areas indicating Single, Double, Triple, Home Run, Sacrifice, Fly Out,
and so forth. There are two teams, usually of nine players each, who "come to bat" in sequence, as in a baseball game.
Dartball was
invented in the early 1920s, most likely by Charles High of Apex Manufacturing. The Apex board is 4 feet square and the throwing distance
is 20 feet or more. DECO and other manufacturers often made two-faced, standard-sized boards with the baseball darts face on one side
and a dartball face on the other
Dartball became especially popular in the Midwest, where the sport was often organized around churches.
As a youngster, I often played dartball with my grandfather in the basement of the Methodist church in Shawano, Wisconsin. My grandfather
was the leadoff hitter for his church team, which belonged to a league of Methodist church teams in northeastern Wisconsin. In To
the Point, Peek writes, "Wisconsin became, and still is, the center of Dartball playing in the country--in the world, for that matter,
since the sport is unknown outside of North America."
Baseball darts is mainly an Eastern sport. There are two chief varieties, centered
on Philadelphia and Albany. The Philadelphia version has double and triple multiplier rings, as in English darts, but the triple ring
is on the outside of the target area and the double ring is immediately inside it. The Albany version of baseball darts has no triple
multiplier, only a double multiplier ring circling the outside of the target area.
The traditional American dartboard is made of basswood,
the wood of the linden tree. Darts are also made of wood and fletched with three or four turkey feathers.
Because of Prohibition,
American darts didn't develop as a tavern sport. Instead, it became popular in company recreation rooms, clubs, firehouses, and service
organizations. After Prohibition ended in 1933, though, darts did move into bars and taverns.
It's hard to gauge just how popular the sport was. The fact that there were three equipment manufacturers in the Philadelphia area and at least one other near Albany is some indication that American-style darts was steadily gaining adherents during the 1930s. Another indicator of popularity is that, in 1943, the Widdy Dart Board Company received an order from the War Department for about a million darts to be shipped to the armed services and USOs throughout the world. (Ironically, the War Production Board stopped production because the company was using steel and lead considered essential to the war effort.)
Churchgroups - not Taverns:
There are two chapters dedicated to Dartball in
Dan Peek’s book “To The Point, the Story of Darts in America”. In one of them, it is reported that the president of Apex recollects
that the sport of Dartball was spread across the country “by Johnny Appleseed types, such as Lutheran ministers who would bring their
dartboards and their bibles as they moved from one congregation to the next.”
That quote may bear more than a bit of truth. In looking
at the greater Dartball community, many of the active leagues are Church Leagues. And, for whatever it’s worth, Monday Night seems
to be Dartball Night across the country.
Home Page General Information History
Sunday School Catechism V.B.S. Adult Bible Study
Youth Ladies Aid Sarah Circle Busy Bees Dartball League
Wedding /Marriage Resources Funeral / Grief Resoureces
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
