Jocky Wilson
Wilson in the1989 BDO World Darts Championships final
Personal information
Full name	John Thomas Wilson
Born	(1950-03-22)22 March 1950 Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Died	24 March 2012(2012-03-24) (aged 62)[1] Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Darts information
Playing darts since	1972
Darts	21g Datadart
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Eye of the Tiger" bySurvivor
Organisation (seesplit in darts)
BDO	1978–1993
PDC	1993–1996 (founding member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Championship	Winner (2) 1982, 1989
World Masters	Runner Up: 1982, 1990
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Last 24 Group: 1994, 1995
World Matchplay	Quarter Final: 1994
Other tournament wins
Autumn Gold Cider Masters 1985 British Open 1982 Bullseye Darts Ch'ship 1980, 1981 Finnish Open 1986 Jersey Festival of Darts 1980 MFI World Pairs 1988 Scottish Masters 1980, 1983, 1984 Best Old Major results: British Professional 1981, 1983, 1986, 1988 British Matchplay 1980, 1981
Medal record Men'sDarts Representing Scotland WDF Europe Cup 1978 Copenhagen Men's team 1978 Copenhagen Men's singles 1988 Yarmouth Men's team 1980 Ebbw Vale Men's singles 1980 Ebbw Vale Men's pairs 1980 Ebbw Vale Men's team 1982 Westcliff-on-Sea Men's pairs 1982 Westcliff-on-Sea Men's team 1984 The Hague Men's team 1986 Turku Men's team 1988 Yarmouth Men's singles
Updated on 1 September 2021.

John Thomas "Jocky"Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012)^[1] was a Scottish professionaldarts player. After turning professional in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning theWorld Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again in 1989. Wilson competed in all major darts tournaments of the era and won theBritish Professional Championship a record four times between 1981 and 1988.

A contemporary and rival ofEric Bristow,Bob Anderson andJohn Lowe, Wilson's ungainly appearance and rough-hewn lifestyle belied his prowess in the sport. He was dogged by health problems, however, and suddenly retired from the game in December 1995. He withdrew from public life and rarely appeared in public or gave interviews before his death in March 2012.

In 2022 the new World Seniors Darts Championships was launched with the trophy engraved with the names of four deceased former World Champions on the darts: Wilson, Bristow,Leighton Rees andAndy Fordham.

As a child, Wilson's parents were deemed unfit to raise him and Wilson spent much of his childhood in an orphanage.^[1]

Wilson served in theBritish Army from 1966 to 1968. He also worked as a coalman, a fish processor, and a miner at Kirkcaldy'sSeafield Colliery. In 1979, during a period of unemployment, he entered a darts competition atButlins,Ayrshire, which he went on to win, claiming the top prize of £500,^[2] (worth around £2,300 in 2024). After his success in this tournament, he turned professional.^[2]

In 1981, Wilson beat world number oneEric Bristow andCliff Lazarenko of England in the BDO Nations Cup final. His Scotland teammates in the 5–4 win were captainRab Smith and Angus Ross.^[3]

His greatest achievements came in the World Championships, first in 1982 where he beat Lowe 5–3 in the final, and then seven years later, when he beat his other great rival Bristow 6–4 in a classic match, where Bristow had recovered from 5–0 down to 5–4 and 2–2 in the tenth set.^[3] This was to be the Scot's last taste of success in a major event although the odd final appearance still came over the next few years.^[3]

His record at the World Championship was one of great consistency. From his debut in 1979 until 1991 he managed to reach at least the quarter-finals on every single occasion.^[3] He was quarter-finalist eight times (1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991) and three-times a losing semi-finalist (1983, 1984, 1987) in addition to his two World titles.^[3] In 1992 and 1993 he suffered first round defeats for the only time at theLakeside Country Club.^[2]

He made several guest appearances on television including the popular darts themed quiz showBullseye hosted byJim Bowen, and produced byCentral Television.^[4]

External videos
World Darts Championship Wilson vLazarenko. A bad tempered match, with a glimpse of good sportsmanship.

In the television documentaryEric Bristow: Sports Life Stories, Bristow described various psychological ploys he used against his opponents to "scramble their heads". He added that in response the only two opponents who would look him in the eye at the handshake at the start of a game were Wilson and Lowe, saying that like himself they had "no fear". He also referred to Wilson's unorthodox style such as a tendency to jerk his shoulder on throwing the third dart. Bristow commented that it seemed to have no detrimental effect on the accuracy, describing Wilson as "a one off". Bristow stated though that Wilson's sporting demise was due to the increasing volumes of alcoholic spirits Wilson would consume remarking, 'At the end he was doing a 40 oz bottle'.^[5]

Wilson joined the other top professionals who split away from the rulingBritish Darts Organisation in 1993 to form the WDC (nowProfessional Darts Corporation). He was not able to recapture the form that took him to two world championships however, and only participated in two PDC World Championships, failing to win a single match. He lost both group games in 1994 (to Dennis Priestley and Graeme Stoddart) and again in 1995 (to Priestley and Lowe).^[3]

One of the highlights of Wilson's three years in the WDC was him reaching the final of the 1993WDC Skol UK Matchplay in March 1993,^[3] which was broadcast onITV and played on quadro dartboards. Wilson became one of the few players to have hit 240 on television during a visit to the dart board, by getting 3 darts in the quadruple 20, during his semi final victory overJohn Lowe. Wilson lost the final toDennis Priestley.^[3]

Wilson reached the quarter-finals of the1994 World Matchplay,^[3] losing to eventual championLarry Butler.^[3] Wilson's final appearance in a televised tournament came in the1995 World Matchplay. He beat Rod Harrington 8–4 in the first round, but in his final televised major, lost to Nigel Justice in the second round.^[3]

Although Wilson never formally announced his retirement, he stopped competing professionally on 23 December 1995, after being diagnosed withdiabetes,^[4] which stopped him from drinking during games.^[2]

For ten years during his darts career, Wilson had a house inWallsend to cut down on travel expenses, but he left that to return to his nativeKirkcaldy.^[4] He was declared bankrupt in 1998,^[2] and then survived on disability allowance, living as arecluse in a one-bedroom flat back on the council estate where he grew up.^[2] He also suffered fromarthritis in his hands.^[2]

Wilson ceased giving interviews to the press and television. AnObserver reporter tried to interview him in January 2007 on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his first title win, only to be told by his wife, "He never has (given an interview) since stopping and never will. He thinks it's all in the past, it's over with."^[2] However, Wilson spoke briefly toThe Scotsman in 2001.^[6] Despite his withdrawal from darts, in August 2009, the PDC announced a new tournament called "TheJocky Wilson Cup" in which Scotland's best players played England's best. England beat Scotland 6–0 in the inaugural tournament in December 2009.^[3]

A heavy smoker for 40 years, in November 2009 it was announced that Wilson had been diagnosed withchronic obstructive pulmonary disease.^[1] Reports stated that he had smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day for most of his life. He died just after 21:00 on 24 March 2012 at his home in Kirkcaldy, two days after his sixty-second birthday.^[7] His funeral was held on 2 April at Kirkcaldy Crematorium.^[8]

Many stories of Jocky Wilson tell of his heavy drinking. John Lowe said of Wilson "one minute he could be the nicest man on Earth and the next extremely offensive, to say the least. I've lost count of the amount of times he'd come up to me and said 'Sorry about last night'. I would always reply 'why? What did you do?' and he'd say 'oh it wasn't you then?' He would then proceed to apologise to everyone he'd been with the previous night, until he found out if he'd upset anyone".^[9] In 1982, Jocky was banned for several months for "insulting behaviour" towards an official.^[10][11][12] Just before going onstage for a World Cup match in 1983, Jocky Wilson ran towards Eric Bristow and kicked him hard. The two were separated by officials and entered the stage to play their match. After Eric had beaten him, Jocky said "I've got to try to beat you somehow". Bristow said "One minute I wanted to tear him apart, the next we were at the bar having a drink".^[13] Bristow said "deep down, I think he liked me, and I had a soft spot for him".^[14] Away from the darts world, Wilson was very different. "He was a lovely, quiet, firm family man," said Denis Madden, who conducted Wilson's funeral service and Madden went on to say "Jocky Wilson never wanted to become famous or in the spotlight. Jocky would be the first to tell you that work in its own right was a means to an end, all he wanted out of it was to provide well for his wife and family."^[15]

In 1982, during theFalklands War, Wilson was banned from competing in darts tournaments after he clashed with an official during a championship. According to Wilson's obituary inThe Scotsman, this resulted from a remark allegedly by the official relating to Wilson's wife,^[6] who was named Malvina (the Argentine name for theFalkland Islands is "Islas Malvinas").^[4] He received a ban of several months which stopped him from defending his Unipart trophy title.^[16]

Wilson frequently consumed sweets and generally refused to brush his teeth, stating: "My Gran told me the English poison the water". He had lost his last tooth by the age of 28. Following his 1982 World title win, he paid £1,200 for dentures, but later complained that the dentures made him belch when drinking.^[2]

Source:^[3]

• 1979: Quarter-final (lost toJohn Lowe 1–3)
• 1980: Quarter-final (lost toEric Bristow 0–3)
• 1981: Quarter-final (lost toTony Brown 2–4)
• 1982:Winner (beat John Lowe 5–3)
• 1983: 3rd place (beat Tony Brown 2–0; lost in semi-final toKeith Deller 3–5)
• 1984: Semi-final (lost toDave Whitcombe 5–6)
• 1985: Quarter-final (lost to Dave Whitcombe 3–4)
• 1986: Quarter-final (lost to Dave Whitcombe 2–4)
• 1987: Semi-final (lost to John Lowe 0–5)
• 1988: Quarter-final (lost to Eric Bristow 2–4)
• 1989:Winner (beat Eric Bristow 6–4)
• 1990: Quarter-final (lost toMike Gregory 3–4)
• 1991: Quarter-final (lost toKevin Kenny 3–4)
• 1992: First round (lost to Kevin Kenny 1–3)
• 1993: First round (lost toDennis Priestley 0–3)

Source:^[3]

• 1994: Group stage (lost both group games toDennis Priestley andGraeme Stoddart)
• 1995: Group stage (lost both group games to Dennis Priestley andJohn Lowe)

Wilson appeared in BDO major finals 12 times with a record of 8 wins and 4 runners-up.^[3]

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[Note 1]
Winner	1.	1980	British Matchplay(1)	Leighton Rees	2–0 (s)
Winner	2.	1981	British Matchplay(2)	Cliff Lazarenko	2–0 (s)
Winner	3.	1981	British Professional Championship(1)	John Lowe	6–5 (s)
Winner	4.	1982	BDO World Championship(1)	John Lowe	5–3 (s)
Runner-up	1.	1982	World Masters	Dave Whitcombe	1–2 (s)
Winner	5.	1983	British Professional Championship(2)	Dave Whitcombe	7–2 (s)
Runner-up	2.	1983	Butlins Grand Masters(5)	Eric Bristow	1–5 (l)
Winner	6.	1986	British Professional Championship(3)	Dave Whitcombe	7–6 (s)
Runner-up	3.	1986	MFI World Matchplay(1)	Mike Gregory	1–5 (s)
Winner	7.	1988	British Professional Championship(4)	Ray Battye	7–2 (s)
Winner	8.	1989	BDO World Championship(2)	Eric Bristow	6–4 (s)
Runner-up	4.	1990	World Masters	Phil Taylor	2–3 (s)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1978	Europe Cup Singles	John Lowe	1–4
Runner-up	2.	1981	World Cup Singles	John Lowe	3–4
Runner-up	3.	1983	World Cup Singles	Eric Bristow	2–4

Note

Wilson's performance timeline is as follows:^[3]

BDO

^[18][19]

PDC

• Jockey attempts a 9-dart finish (bbc.co.uk)
• "A Sporting Nation" – article from bbc.co.uk
• Jocky's dart out of the shadowsThe Scotsman, 17 March 2001

• 1950 births
• 2012 deaths
• BDO world darts champions
• British Darts Organisation players
• Professional Darts Corporation founding players
• Scottish darts players
• Scottish miners
• Sportspeople from Kirkcaldy
• 20th-century Scottish sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
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• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
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