The nTop Dart Players: Cowboy" Anderson
Bob "The Limestone Cowboy" Anderson It has been a fabulous journey for one of the true greats of the sport but for Bob Anderson, that journey is finally over. But Unicorn’s former World Champion is determined it will be the start of a new beginning, rather than the beginning of the end. And that means playing darts for many years to come – but on his own terms.
‘The Limestone Cowboy’ has drawn the curtain on a legendary career, calling it a day on his glittering competitive time in the PDC. “I am proud of what I have achieved and proud to say that back in 1981, I started in the top 32 in the world and here we are, 27 years later, and I am finishing in the world’s top 32.” It is a terrific achievement for a 60-year-old to stay at the very top of his chosen sport for nearly three decades.
Anderson will take part in the brand new League of Legends in 2008 alongside some other greats of the sport….competing in the new Legends Tour meant that Anderson had to resign from the PDC, although he could have rejoined later in the year. “It saddened me that I had to resign after all these years but I am very happy at the contribution I have made in helping put the sport where it is today. I was a founder member but I won’t be going back. It’s time for something new,” he said.
He added: “I wish the PDC well….but with the new criteria for qualification through the Players Championship Order of Merit, it would have meant a great deal of traveling and a great deal of expense. In the end, it wasn’t a difficult decision. I know I still have the ability but have I got the will and the energy? Probably not is the answer!”
But what a player and what a character!
Anderson admitted that he will miss some aspects of the tour. “I have made so many friends over the years and they will be missed but I am looking forward to something new and it will certainly be a big challenge. He will play against John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, Bobby George, Cliff Lazarenko, Dave Whitcombe and Peter Evison in the Legends event – looking forward to renewing old rivalries. “I want to win this tournament….make no mistake,” said Anderson. “It has certainly been an enjoyable journey and I have no complaints. I just wish I was 25 years younger!”
Anderson has enjoyed an amazing link-up with Unicorn, going back 20 years. Only John Lowe has been sponsored by darts brand leader longer than ‘The Limestone Cowboy’... Of course, Anderson is a fully paid-up member of the most exclusive club in darts. He is one of the chosen few to be crowned World Champion. In 1988 he tasted the glory, beating fellow Team Unicorn star John Lowe at The Lakeside.
During that golden era, he was World No.1 for three-and-a-half years, winning every tournament around the globe but more recently, Anderson displayed the class and determination to mix it with the very best on the biggest stages of all. He has continued to take on and beat the best and appeared in every big TV tournament year-in, year-out. That is a measure of the man – a player who never lost the competitive edge.
He puts down captaining England in 1992 as one of his proudest moments and he also won the World Pairs twice with Lowe and Phil Taylor and more recently, Anderson reached the semi-finals of the World Championship in successive years. He is recognised all over the world and has always been one of the most popular players with darts fans around the globe. It isn’t so much a retirement but the next stage of a career that has flourished and earned Anderson many deserved accolades over the last 30 years.
Incredibly, the long road to the very top started in 1954, when aged just seven, Bob hit his first 180 using brass and feather darts! But it could all have been so different. As a teenager, he was a British Champion athlete. The javelin was his chosen weapon then and he was invited to train for the Mexico Olympics before he broke his throwing arm and his athletics career was brought to an abrupt end. Anderson was also a good quality footballer, before a broken leg cut short any ideas he had of making it as a professional.
Injuries have followed Anderson around. In 1990, a chronic back problem nearly put pay to his reign in darts. Again he was forced to have more surgery to correct the problem. “I don’t think there is anywhere else for them to operate,” he joked. A true darting gentleman, Anderson was also involved in arguably the most bizarre ‘walk-on’ in the history of the game. In 1994, ‘The Limestone Cowboy’ was escorted to the stage at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, during the World Championships, by a real horse!
“I was petrified!” he said. “It was great fun and a great stunt but I remember the horse was huge and I was just glad to get on stage!”
Married to Sally, Bob’s other great passion is golf. He plays off a 6 handicap. When Anderson hits the magical maximum, we get that trademark curl of the lip and the index finger aimed at the board, like a gun. It became synonymous with ‘The Limestone Cowboy’.
In his professional career, he never gave up….he loved fighting and winning lost causes….he always trusted in his own ability and he is still is a living legend.
New beginnings and a new sense of purpose but expect to see the same old determination and the same old Bob Anderson at the oche - wherever it may be – for some time yet.
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