From hobby to international competition, Hampton man hits the bulls-eye

When Jeff Smith's auto body shop in Hampton, near Saint John, burned down in August 2019, there was nothing left but a pile of black rubble and the charred wooden frame of the building. But that loss pushed him to focus on a hobby that would end up taking him to Madison Square Garden in New York City.

He turned to darts, something he loved as a kid, and started practising at local bars and the local Legion, playing darts for meat while working a day job at a friend's auto shop. And if you're not familiar with that term, it means exactly what you think — the prizes include steaks.

Five months later, Smith decided he wanted to go pro. He flew to England to get a tour card that would let him participate in competitions run by the Professional Darts Corporation. 

"If there was ever a time and opportunity to give it a go, that was going to be my window," said the 47-year-old Smith, who threw his first dart at the age of six.

That decision led him all the way to the North American darts championship, in The Theater in Madison Square Garden. More than 3,000 spectators watched Smith beat fellow Canadian Matt Campbell on June 3.

You might think of darts as a game people play in a bar or pub, just for fun, but in fact the sport has a huge fan base. Smith said he is well-known in places all across the globe, even if he isn't recognized on the streets of Hampton.

"If Sidney Crosby walked through the streets of Hampton, everyone would know that he was there. Well, that's the same for me in England," he said.

But even in New Brunswick, the darts scene is growing. Smith said that anyone can get into the sport if they want, as long as they play as much as they can — play steak darts, go to tournaments, and join house leagues.

Although Smith spends a lot of time travelling between tournaments, he still manages to practise for one to two hours a day. On top of the skill required to throw precisely, the game takes a lot of mental and physical strength and can last for hours.

Mark Hebert, the president of the N.B. Dart Association, said while participation was down during the pandemic, the recent provincial dart championships had around 450 participants.  

"I believe we have the toughest competition around in Atlantic Canada, probably in North America," said Hebert.

Although it has its competitive side, darts is also a community activity, Hebert said. People come and gather with their friends for fun.  

For as long as he can remember, Smith has had a dart board in his house. His whole family played and Smith would pick up a game with anyone who would face him. Soon enough, he was competing against kids his own age in the youth darts program, which at the time was run by his grandfather.

"I just love the game. I just kept beating the board until I got really, really good at it," said Smith.

His early skill came partly from being around darts, but also from the strict rules of his grandfather, who wouldn't let him play until he could show that he understood how to quickly calculate the total of the darts he'd thrown — what players call breakdowns.That strictness was the best thing that could have happened for him early on, Smith said, because it helped him succeed early on.

He won his first provincial championship when he was 14. As an adult, he worked his way up through the National Dart Federation of Canada to the national championship, but didn't win. He took a break from darts in 2003 and played casually for some time, but he came back to the competitive side of things at the national championship in 2008. 

He was such an unexpected contender that Smith's friend gave him the nickname The Silencer. 

"He's like, 'You're the sniper up on the hill. You're just picking people off with the silencer. Nobody saw you coming,'" said Smith.

As Smith stood on the stage at Madison Square Garden recently, winning his second North American championship, he said it felt incredible to have so many people screaming behind him.

 After his victory, he went out to a New York  bar, and he said that when he walked in, people started cheering his name. 

"To come back and to get the North American — you're the best player in North America ... that's a pretty outstanding title to have."