CyberDarts
 The Original Darts News & Info Web Site ...est. 1994! |
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At 45 years of age, sporting achievement at world class level should perhaps be considered a thing of the past, yet to Yorkshireman Dennis Priestley it has meant the creation and establishment of a hightly successful sporting career.
He won in January 1991 the World Professional Darts Championship by beating the legendary Eric Bristow. Not that the result surprised Dennis as he had been steadily progressing to that point for eight years, nor did it surprise the Dart World as Dennis had been quietly gathering a healthy respect and appreciation by the sport's professional players for three seasons or more.
Dennis began playing the game like so many others at the start of the TV boom in 1975. He had always been good at sport, captaining the school at soccer and playing twice every weekend after he had left school to run the family coal business. Married with a young family by that time, Dennis did not actively pursue a professional career, preferring to play in the events as an amateur.
In 1980 he re-organised his coal business and found himself with more leisure time, and thus more time to play the game.
In September 1983 he was picked for Yorkshire, and today is their Captain. That same year he won his first Open, the McEwans, and two years later he picked up the Dunlop Classic Singles Title, the first at which he had encountered world class opposition.
With this taste for the big time, he began to concentrate more and more on his game but only as an amateur, not taking the risk of a professional career. He therefore could not travel to all the World Ranked Tournaments which held up his progress at the game.
In 1989 he lost in the Final of the prestigious "News of the World" Championships to World Professional player Dave Whitcombe, and then travelled to America to win the Los Angeles Open.. He was at last being noticed and treated with respect. He was becoming a dangerous player on the circuit.
In 1991 he qualified for the Embassy World Championship and, against all the odds, won it, defeating the legendary Eric Bristow in the final, 6-0! He proved also in that week of television that he was articulate, well-dressed and more than a vocal match at interviews.
He consolidated this World Title by winning the coveted World Champions Challenge crown 3 months later and then, in the autumn of 1991, took the British Matchplay and British Gold Cup titles.
As World Champion his expertise at the sport was confirmed, yet he continually gives notice that he is more than capable of becoming one of Britain's top celebrity Sportsmen in terms of personality, appearance and character.
In 1992 he continued to produce an unparalleled string of major victories and near misses and regained, ultimately, his World Title in January 1994. The previous twelve months giving him so much success, he also regained his World No. 1 Ranking.
Achievements of Dennis Priestley: