In the beginning a sport was begat from a multi-colored disk, small pointed arrows and alcohol that sprung forth from the earth.
And the sport was without form, and void; and the necessity to organize the darting minions was beset upon the masses, and behold, darting was cast upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie moved upon the face of the waters.
And the dart gods saw the multi-colored disk, and saw that it was good: and the dart gods divided the disk unto pie shaped segments from the darkness.
The dart gods bade us to cast small pointed spears at the multi-colored disk with accuracy and determination.
And the dart gods called the tiny arrows darts; and the gathering together of the segments on the multi-colored disk the board: and a line was drawn upon the ground which the dart gods called the oche, and they saw that it was good.I originally conceived this page as a history of darting in Wichita. Although I have been an active darter in Wichita since 1983, I am afraid I would not do justice to accurately portraying the history of Wichita darting. Many of the people that were darting when I started were involved in the early beginnings of the Dart Palace, Wichita Darting Association, Air Capital Open etc… I would hate to leave anybody out and not give them credit for all their hard work. What I am going to do is open this page up for contributions from our darting community.. I am looking for visual or written stories and anecdotes having to do with the history of our sport in Wichita. I would love for the people were involved at the inception to write a paragraph or two and tell their stories. You know who you are (Ed, Brian, Val, Dutch, Mary). Any pictures of our early darters, plaques or memorabilia will be appreciated and posted to this page. Please include approximate dates and I will try to make everything as chronological as possible. I already have several very cool items from Brian Byrnes, Ed Wright and Randy Scheltgen that I was able to scan in and have posted below. I have also included a link entitled “In Memory Of”. This link will take you to a page where I have posted pictures and any stories I have and will receive of our darting friends that have passed away over the years. I quite likely will miss a name or two so if you know of somebody or have a picture please let me know.
Thanks H.L.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first WDA Spring Classic, later to be call the Spring Fling was held at the Dart Palace in 1981. The Dart Palace was owned by Ed Wright and was the biggest venue for darts in Wichita. This is the original flyer.
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The next year the first Air Capital Open was held. There was a guaranteed payout of $10,000.00 right out of the gate. A very impressive start for our premier darting event in Wichita.
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The original Motley Crue! Butch "Butcher Waggoner, Ed Wright, Brian Byrnes, and Ron "Cheese" Linnenberger circa early eighties.
