North American Open Darts Tournament thru the yrs

[skweezit]

the North American Open Darts Tournament was unique as it went on to become the only accepted international major with a 301 double in double out format, all games best of three.

Here's some statistics you may find interesting..

1970: - The first US national dart tournament offering cash prizes ($2,000) was held at Culver City (CA) Veteran’s Auditorium.

- 252 Players from 4 States
- Bar consumption = 5,000 bottles of beer + 28 cases of liquor

Oh and the singles Champion was Vince Lubbering (California) who beat Bob Thiede (New Jersey) (Bob won it next year)

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1972: - 384 Players from 5 States + Washington DC and Canada competed for $6,000 in five events

- Bar consumption = 8,640 bottles of beer + 125 quarts of liquor at 2 serving stations

- Ray Fischer (Pennsylvania) won his first NAODT Singles title, shooting 19’s with wooden darts
(He repeated as singles champion the next year, this time shooting 20's with brass darts)

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1974: - The tournament moved to the Disneyland hotel convention center (California)

- 781 Players from 14 States + Wash DC and 6 nations (Canada, England, Mexico, Sweden, Wales & the US) competed for the first ever $10,000+ prize purse

- The bar grossed $9,000

- The singles title was won by Joe Baltadonis (New Jersey)
(next year Conrad Daniels would win it, also from New Jersey)

The first British contingent (12 in all) were hosted (hotel, meals, tours, etc.) through the generosity of of Mothers pub, in Inglewood, CA

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1976: - Prize money increased to $28,500. played on the "Queen Mary", using all four ballrooms, situated on 3 decks of the ship.
- As matches were called, players were provided with maps to find their playing boards.
- Walkie-Talkies were used to communicate open boards

- Londoner, Ricky Fusco, won the Singles.

1977: - $30,000
Players from 8 countries witnessed John Lowe win the first of his 12 NAODT Championships ---the 301 Doubles with partner, Tony Brown.

The singles championship went to Alan Glazier (England) over Tony Brown (England)

[sat]

And the bar?

Seriously, you making those figures up?

[skweezit]

1978: - up to $35,000 now
Bobby George (from guess where) won it.- and began a tradition to automatically have the winner of this tournament gain entry into the winmau world masters

- John Lowe won three events (Mixed Doubles / 301 Doubles / Team)

1979: - $40,000.
- Eric Bristow won the first of his four Singles crowns, he beat Len Heard (California, although transplanted from, yep, you got it)
and partnered with Leighton Rees to capture the 301 Doubles event.

[skweezit]

And the bar?

Seriously, you making those figures up?

No, I'm not, sat.

[sat]

Heh, I like that the stat was recorded.

[skweezit]

aheh heh, me too.

1980: - The tournament moved to Las Vegas’ Hotel Sahara and was attended by 1709 Players from 35 States and 12 Nations

- Len Heard (USA) defeated popular Canadian, Fred Boyce in the Singles.

- The British contingent won all the remaining events.

1981: - $50,000 with 1797 players

- There were 85 playing boards

- Southern California’s John Kramer surprised and delighted the crowd by defeating Eric Bristow in the Singles Final.

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1982: - Americans were in the winner’s circle in all 5 events.

- Singles Champion, Nicky Virachkul was invited to the Winmau World Masters, with airfare provided by Pan American Airways.

- Kevin Hayes became the first player in NAODT history to achieve a Perfect 6-Dart 301 game…..and he did it twice (back to back) in the Singles event

1983: - 1919 Players from 40 States and 16 Nations

- Watneys was the title sponsor. By the end of the first event, every available keg of Watneys beer had been tapped in Las Vegas.
- No problem…..Frank Dickens drove back to Irvine, CA (600 miles round trip), filled his station wagon with 15 kegs of Watneys and was back in time for the first event on Satuday morning!

- Eric Bristow won his second Singles title over Stefan Lord (Sweden)

- Keith Deller paired with Linda Batten to win the Mixed Doubles and was also on the winning 4-Man Team.

[sat]

- Kevin Hayes became the first player in NAODT history to achieve a Perfect 6-Dart 301 game…..and he did it twice (back to back) in the Singles event

This interests me. Do you have the darts for that?

[skweezit]

1984: - The NAODT became the first ADO Sanctioned event to be included in the new World Darts Federation Player Rankings (wdf)

- Eric Bristow became the first player to win 3 NAODT Singles titles beating Bobby George

1985: - John Lowe seized his first NAODT Singles crown

1986: - Bristow became the first player in NAODT history to win 4 Singles championships

1987: - Lowe won his second NAODT Singles crown

[skweezit]

- Kevin Hayes became the first player in NAODT history to achieve a Perfect 6-Dart 301 game…..and he did it twice (back to back) in the Singles event

This interests me. Do you have the darts for that?

Yes, I believe I have them inside of me, but so far I have not been able to produce them.
I was thinking with meditation and deep concentration I could harness-wait. You're not talking about me, are you?

[sat]

I could be, if you like.

Don't you go getting into that woo though, it'll dilute your average 60,000 times.

[skweezit]

1988: - Out with Watneys and in with a new sponsor NODOR with the prize purse still cresting at $50,000

- The tournament attracted over 2,000 players for the first time in it’s history. 2142 Players from 46 States and 16 Nations

- Steve Brown (USA, via where do you think?) took his first NAODT Singles championship over Bob Anderson (England)
(He also sucessfully defended it the next year with a win over Simon Duke (England)

- after a five year absence of perfect 6 dart games, two shooters hit one apiece in '89, Eric Bristow (England) and Ronnie Baxter (USA), (just kidding, England))

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1990: - Phil Taylor defeated MVP Ron Baxter in the Singles Final

1991: - MVP Phil Taylor repeated as Singles Champion, needing only 29 darts in three legs to defeat Jerry Umberger (Pennsylvania) His PPD was 3l.14!! (93.42 3 dart average)

1992: - For the first time in history, no Americans made it to the ‘Victory Circle’

- Alan Warriner, who got a Little later, (sounds kinda dirty, huh?, That's not how it's meant though, it's a name change) emerged as Singles Champ after beating Mike Gregory (England)

1993: - Bob Anderson topped the Singles field over Shayne Burgess (England) in the finals

-John Lowe tied with Kathy Maloney (USA) for the most NAODT titles (10), to date.

a couple more perfect games were tossed in the singles, one by Kevin Spiolek (England) and knotch up another for Ronnie "batman" Baxter

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1994: - Sportcraft / Unicorn came on board as title sponsors

- Kevin Spiolek becomes 301 singles champion beating Jamie Harvey (Scotland) in the finals

- Phil Taylor (England) hits a 6-darter

1995: - This time Rudy Hernandez (New York) denies the title to Jamie Harvey

1996: - Following the sale of the Hotel Sahara, the NAODT moved to the Tropicana Hotel and the shooters tolerated a poor bar service throughout the weekend.

- Roger Carter (Alabama) topped the Singles field for the first time

1997: - The Aladdin Hotel welcomed the NAODT event, willingly closing their 24-hr. Bingo facility to accommodate the event.

- Winning both the Singles and 301 Doubles titles, England’s Peter Manley was named MVP. He beat John Part (Cananda) in the singles

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1998: - Held at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Men’s and Ladies’ Cricket Singles were played for the first time

- Accudart / Winmau came aboard as Title Sponsors and guaranteed a special $50,000 cash prize for the first Perfect Cricket Singles Game.

- Brad Wethington (Ohio) beat Keith Deller in the 301 competition

- Paul Lim (California et al) over Peter Evison (England) in cricket


1999: - 1981 Champion John Kramer returned 18 years later to defeat 1996 Champ Roger Carter in the Men’s 301 Singles

- Roger Carter defeated defending Champion Paul Lim for the Men’s Cricket Singles crown and was named the 1999 NAODT MVP (Most Valuable Player)

John Part hits a 6-darter