Conrad Daniels
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Conrad Edward Daniels (born September 11, 1941) is an American former professional
darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...
player who was active from the 1970s to the 1980s.


Darts career

Daniels was an elite competitor who won or finished near the top of dozens of individual and team events in his career. In 1975, Daniels won both the US Open and North American Open, and reached world #3 in the 1975-76 ratings of the European Darts Organization. He was also a member of the US team that took 2nd place at the 1979 World Cup, and a member of the team that finished in 2nd place at the 1980 Elkadart Nations Cup. Daniels was one of the first American players to seriously challenge British darters at their own game. In 1975 he participated in
The Indoor League ''The Indoor League'' was a pub games competition series that was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired from 1973 until 1977. The programme was hosted by former England cricketer Fred Trueman (1931–2006). Background The first series o ...
(Yorkshire television's) Champion of Champions Dart Tournament, contested by the best players from around the world. Daniels famously defeated the then-reigning World Master's champion
Cliff Inglis Cliff Inglis (1 January 1935 – 1 January 2001) was an English professional darts player. His prime years were in the mid-1970s and 1980s. Inglis was the winner of the first World Masters tournament, still considered by many as the most prest ...
in the final. This was the first time an American won such a high-profile competition in the UK. Due in part to this victory, ''International Spider'' magazine named Daniels their inaugural "Darter of the Year." In 1978, in the very first match ever played at a
World Professional Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...
, Daniels defeated the top seed of the event, highly favored
Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "the Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player and one of the most recognisable and successful players of the 1980s. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Fed ...
. Bristow, who would go on to become World Champion five times, later admitted in his autobiography that " anielsgot to me mentally." ESPN has described Daniels' upset of Bristow as "one of the great shocks in darts." Daniels suffered first round defeats in the 1980 World Championship to Rab Smith of Scotland and in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
to Doug McCarthy of England. He never qualified for the event again. Daniels also played in the 1978
Winmau World Masters The World Masters is a darts tournament, initially organised by the British Darts Organisation from 1974 and later by the World Darts Federation. It is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments. The tournament w ...
, beating Dave Lee to reach the quarter finals of the event, where he then lost to Tony Brown. Daniels was a pioneering figure in the early days of darts popularity in the US. His successes abroad in the mid 1970s were recounted in scores of newspaper articles across the country at the time. Daniels was featured in a 1976 ''Sports Illustrated'' article, and appeared as a guest on the popular American television program ''The Mike Douglas Show'' in 1977. Later in his career, Daniels collected singles titles at the New York Open (1981), New Jersey Open (1982), and Washington Open (1984), and was elected to the US Darts Hall of Fame in 1987. Fellow American Hall-of-Famer Gerry Umberger singled out Daniels as having "one of the best minds I've seen in darts." Author Jack McClintock describes Daniels the dart player as "serenely and disconcertingly confident, with an intimidating coldness of concentration." Daniels is a long-time resident of the
Hamilton Square Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. The Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named ...
neighborhood of
Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Hamilton Township is a Township (New Jersey), township and the most populous municipality in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton, the state's capi ...
, where he lives with his wife.Mehlman, Peter
"Brestowski, Corcoran Nail Down Titles in Darts"
''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', January 15, 1979. Accessed January 17, 2018. "Brestowski, from Hazleton, Pa., defeated 1975 champion Conrad Daniels in three legs to win the title before 800 spectators in his first U.S. Open competition.... Daniels, of Hamilton Square, N.J., thoroughly emotionless throughout the finals and semifinals, and was similarly stolid after the championship match, accepting his loss with a mildly disappointed shrug."
Daniels quit the BDO in January 1985. The Greater Trenton Dart League in Mercer County, New Jersey honors Conrad yearly with their Mr. Trenton tournament where the winner receives the "Conrad Daniels Trophy"


World Championship results


BDO

* 1978: Quarter Finals: (lost to
Nicky Virachkul Nicky Virachkul (June 3, 1948 – April 17, 1999) was an American professional darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Background Virachkul was from Lampang, Thailand, and was a javelin thrower during high school. He moved to the U ...
4–6) (legs) * 1979: Last 24: (lost to
Rab Smith Robert Smith (born 29 May 1948) is a Scottish former professional darts player. He won numerous tournaments in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he was also twice a World Championship quarter-finalist. After a particularly successful 1977, hi ...
1–2) (sets) * 1980: Last 24: (lost to Doug McCarthy 0–2)


References


External links


Profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Conrad 1941 births American darts players Living people British Darts Organisation players Sportspeople from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey