AN AUSTRALIAN DARTS STAR
On 20th May 2015 the death was announced of top Australian darts player, Kevin White.
Kevin (b. 6th August 1938) (pictured) has been described as ‘One of Australia’s greatest darts players’; a man who competed at the top level of the sport both in his home country and overseas for more than three decades.
He first came to the fore in Australia in 1964 when he was selected for the New South Wales State team eventually representing NSW on no less than 21 occasions. In 1971 he was runner-up in the Australian Singles and achieved a hat-trick of wins in that event (1983, 1984 and 1985).
Kevin played in the Embassy World Professional Darts Championship on four occasions (1981-1984). In 1981, having beaten Sweden’s Stefan Lord in the first round, Kevin lost in the second round to Scotland’s Jocky Wilson.
In 1982 he was knocked out at the first hurdle by his fellow countryman Terry O’Dea. 1983 saw Kevin beating Scotland’s Rab Smith 2-1 in the first round. However, once again he found himself facing Jocky Wilson. Kevin lost that match 3-0. His last appearance in the Embassy was in 1984 when Kevin lost in the first round to Northern Ireland’s Steve Brennan.
Although Kevin won numerous titles throughout his career his most memorable triumph was in 1976 when he and his great friend George Foster (of course representing Australia) won the Unicorn World Championship doubles beating the Belgian pairing of Willy Dalaere and Omer Bauwens 3-0 in the final. They won the Unicorn trophy and a cheque for £2,000 and were featured on the front page of Darts World in May 1976.
Kevin is yet another great loss to the world of darts.
(My thanks to Kevin Berlyn and Kevin’s great friend George Foster for information relating Kevin’s career.)
© 2015-2019 Patrick Chaplin
Images: PC/DW Archive. Used with permission.
Dr Patrick Chaplin 