Bob Anderson (darts player)
| Bob Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Robert Charles Anderson[1] |
| Nickname | The Limestone Cowboy |
| Born | 7 November 1947 Winchester, Hampshire, England |
| Home town | Clevedon, Somerset England |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1973 |
| Darts | 18grm Unicorn Signature. |
| Laterality | Right-handed |
| Walk-on music | Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell) |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1973 to 1993 |
| PDC | 1993 to 2008 |
| Current world ranking | N/A |
| BDO majors - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Winner 1988 |
| World Masters | Winner 1986, 1987, 1988 |
| World Darts Trophy | Last 56 2007 |
| PDC premier events - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Semi Final 2004, 2005 |
| World Matchplay | SF 1996 |
| World Grand Prix | QF 2006 |
| Desert Classic | Last 32 2004, 2006 |
| UK Open | Last 16 2006 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| MFI World Matchplay World Pairs |
1987 |
| Updated on January 7, 2008. | |
Robert Charles "Bob" Anderson (born 7 November 1947 in Winchester, Hampshire, England) is a former world darts champion. He was ranked as world number one for over three years in the late 1980s. Nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy, he lives in Clevedon in Somerset.
Contents |
[edit] Before Darts
Anderson threw his first darts maximum (180) at the age of just seven.[2] However, he was renowned as a champion athlete during his teenage years. He was picked as a javelin thrower in the British Olympic team of 1968, but broke his arm before the team left for Mexico, an injury which brought an end to his javelin-throwing career. He then turned his attention to football - playing to a moderately high standard for Lincoln United, Guildford, Woking and Farnborough Town. During this time, he had continued to play darts socially and decided to take up the game more seriously when his injury jinx struck again - this time a broken leg in 1970 ended his football career.
[edit] Darts Success
Anderson has had a long and successful darts career winning the World Professional Championship in 1988 and the Winmau World Masters in 1986, 1987 and 1988 - the first man to win the Masters in three successive years (Martin Adams has since emulated this feat by winning the 2008, 2009 and 2010 tournaments).Although Adams did so after the Split in darts and against a much weaker field.He also had tremendous success during the 1980s - considered darts' most glorious televised era. Tournaments were regularly broadcast on BBC and ITV and Anderson was successful in several televised events.
However, just two years after his World title success, he underwent surgery to fix a back problem which threatened his darts career. He returned to the game professionally, but never managed to eclipse the success he enjoyed during the 1980s. Anderson was amongst the players who formed the Professional Darts Corporation - an organisation (originally known as the WDC - World Darts Council) which separated from the existing governing body, the British Darts Organisation in 1992/93. Anderson reached the final of the first ever WDC event, the Lada UK Classic - losing to Mike Gregory.
His world ranking stayed sufficiently high to earn automatic qualification for most major PDC tournaments, and he went on to reach the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship in 2004 and 2005.
Anderson was also the driving force behind the Bob Anderson Classic, a major darts tournament held every October. The tournament started in 2002 and ran until 2005.
In 2008, Anderson decided to take part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on Setanta Sports and play along with the likes of Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe and Dave Whitcombe. However in doing so, he was forced to resign from the PDC to take part in the league.[3] He does, however, remain a lifetime member of the PDPA, granted to him because he was a founder member of the WDC (now PDC). Anderson went on the capture the League of Legends title, beating Keith Deller in the final.
[edit] Outside Darts
Bob married Sally Attwater on 8 April 2004 - he chose Bristow as his best man. Anderson has two children, Jennie and David. He lists his hobbies as golf - with a handicap of six, and trout fishing. Anderson's sporting hero is golf legend Jack Nicklaus
