Richard "Rick" Ney (May 21, 1961 – April 9, 2017) was an American 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 competed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Ney reached the final of the prestigious

News of the World Darts Championship The News of the World Championship was one of the first major organised darts competitions, which began in 1927. It became England's first national darts competition from 1947, as the years went by it gradually became international essentially ...

in 1986 losing to

Bobby George Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King o ...

. He made four appearances in the

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 ...

with his best result coming in 1988 when he beat

Magnus Caris Magnus Caris (born 15 November 1968) is a Swedish former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. BDO career Caris made seven BDO World Darts Championship appear ...

and Chris Johns, and then lost to Bob Anderson in the semifinals. Ney became only the third player from outside the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to reach the last four of the World Championship in the ten-year history of the tournament. All his World Championship defeats came at the hands of some legends of darts, including two losses to five-time world champion

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 ...

. Ney quit BDO in 1991.

Death

Ney died in a vehicle accident on April 9, 2017.

World Championship results

BDO

*1984: 2nd round (lost to

0–4) (sets) *1987: 2nd round (lost to Bristow 0–3) *1988: Semi-finals (lost to Bob Anderson 0–5) *1989: 2nd round (lost to

Dave Whitcombe David Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954) is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments, he was twice a winner of the Winmau World Masters (1982 and 1985) and lost to Eric Bristow in two World Championship finals i ...

0–3)

Career finals

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

Rick Ney profile
at American Darts Organization 1961 births 2017 deaths American darts players Blue Mountain High School alumni British Darts Organisation players Sportspeople from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania {{US-darts-bio-stub