The official dartboard used in Wisconsin:
This site is sponsored by the Wisconsin State Dartball Committee (WSDC).
The mission of the WSDC is promote the game of Dartball and Dartball Leagues, and
to help the sport grow and thrive. The purpose of a Dartball League is to promote
good fellowship among the players, and to provide some wholesome fun and
recreation for participants.
Dartball players can use this site to get league and tournament information.
This site will continue to grow and be updated, with your help.
If you are going to be running a tournament, please send us your info and we will
publish it on our site. Our e-mail address is: widartballrulz@yahoo.com.
Or you can submit info through the following link. Contact us
Welcome to the official Dartball site of the Wisconsin State Dartball Committee!
WISCONSIN DARTBALL
The official darts used in Wisconsin are Apex #2:
Dartball darts are about 7" long, with 3 feathers and a steel tip. The feathers originally used
were actual turkey feathers, but now are synthetic, and come in many different colors.
Dartball is basically a
baseball game played
with darts. The player
throwing the darts is the
"batter". Each dart
thrown is the same as a
pitch in baseball. Where
the dart lands on the
board determines the
outcome of each pitch.
The batter continues to
throw darts, or bat, until
they are safe or out, just
like in baseball. The
game can be played with
as  many as 9 players
per side, though less
can play as well, each
representing a team.
Most teams try to hit the
single first, which is the
one in the middle of the
white, on the right side
of the board. All white is
safe. All orange is out.
Green is foul, grey is a
strike. Like baseball,
three strikes and the
batter is out.  Hitting the
foul is like fouling off
the pitch, and the at bat
continues. There is a DP
(double play), and a SH
(sacrifice). Hitting the
single puts a "runner"
on first. Hitting the triple
would score the runner
from first. The batter
and all runners advance
the  same number of
bases as the number hit.
In the center of the
board is a two base
single (2BS). This is a
single for the batter, but
all base runners
advance two bases.
The board is placed on a
stand, 2' off the floor,
and on a slight angle.  
Each section on an
official dart board has a
wire surrounding it, so
there is never a
disagreement about
where the dart lands on
the board.
WHAT IS DARTBALL?
Counter
Leagues and all tournaments in
Wisconsin shoot 20' from the board,
and all darts are "pitched"
underhand.
Hand made wooden dartboards can be
purchased at: DartballDepot.com
Information from past state tournaments is available on the "Past State Tourney Winners"
page. Any word written in blue is a link to information from that year, or pictures from that
year. Please explore that page and check out the information that is available. You may have
to click on the back button on your browser to return to the page you started on.
                        HISTORY OF THE WISCONSIN DARTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT AND COMMITTEE
 The first state Dartball Tournament was held in 1939, probably in the Milwaukee area. Very little info is available from
the early years of the state tournament. Before the state committee was formed, when it came to the game of Dartball,
there were numerous variations of the rules, regulations, and board layout existing throughout the state of Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin State Dartball Committee was formed in 1951 through the Wisconsin Recreation Association. The
original purpose of the committee was to develop and mandate a standard set of Dartball rules. The first Chairman of
the committee was Harold “Zip” Morgan, with assistant Ernie Dorow Sr. Representatives from various areas of the
state were added to the committee, including Henry S. Noe, Alfred Gross, Edward Mertens, Joe Hutsteiner, and
William Krause. The group worked to develop the first Wisconsin Official Dartball Rule Book, and the first edition was
published in 1952. Updates to the rule book were made over the years, as several editions were published, under the
guidance and funding of the Wisconsin Recreation Association.
The annual Dartball state tournament continued every year, rotating between the cities of West Allis, Waukesha, and
Kenosha. In 1954, a new location was added when Sheboygan hosted the state tournament. In 1963 the tournament
truly became a state wide event, when EauClaire was the host city. This was bolstered by a powerhouse team from
that area, McFadden Trucking. They were always a top team at the state tournament during that time, and won seven
titles in fifteen years, from 1966 to 1980.
In 1970 new committee members were added, including Jerry Mathwig of West Allis and Sam Holmes of Ripon. Sam
owned Holmes Manufacturing, a company that made and sold dart boards. In 1973, Sam ran the tournament in the city
of Ripon, which was added as a regular location for the state tournament. In the later 1970’s many of the original
committee members began to retire, and on August 23, 1978 Ernest Dorow Sr. retired from the West Allis-West
Milwaukee Recreation Department, and eight days later Douglas S. Johnson took over. On July 1, 1979 Mr. Johnson
was elected as the chairman of the State Dartball Committee. New members added to the committee included: Mark
Klobukowski of the W.A.-W.M. Rec Department, Wade Kleinhaus from Sheboygan Falls, Ron Balsiger from
Germantown, Jerry Schulz from Neosho, and Harry Roecker from Kewaskum.
In 1981, a women’s division was added to the annual tournament, as it continued to increase in popularity. Harry
Roecker ran the tournament for the first time in Kewaskum in 1983.  That year also saw the rise of a new powerhouse
team, Cruz Trucking of Racine. They won the tournament four times in five years, from 1983 through 1987. Bob
Leskovar was a top Milwaukee area shooter on that team, and he joined the state committee in 1988, helping run the
tournament in 1989 in West Allis.
    The 7th edition of the official rule book was published in 1984, and in 1986 the state committee decided to split the
annual state tournament field, so a class “B” division was formed. Promoting Dartball more vigorously became the top
priority of the state committee.  The 8th edition of the rule book was published in 1990, although no new rules or rule
changes were included. The location of the tournament continued to rotate between cities. Stan Chichanofsky joined
the committee, and brought the state tournament to his home city of Racine for the first time in 1992. Erv Fiedler and
Bud Bolling also joined the committee in the 90’s. The early 90’s saw several teams rise to dominance. Competing in
class A, Sauve’s Auto Service from Two Rivers won seven titles in eleven years, including the first team to win four
consecutive titles. They battled Milwaukee area powerhouse Hickory Inn, which probably stopped Sauve’s from
winning 7 straight titles. Hickory won 5 titles in 14 years, from 1997 through 2009.
Sauve’s members Al Komoroski and Mike Goetsch joined the committee, and along with Jerry Gospodarek brought
the tournament to Manitowoc for the first time in 1999. That same year, Scott Peterson and Kevin Kohlbeck of Green
Bay, and Dale Lenius or Watertown joined the committee, with hopes of bringing the tournament to their cities.
Watertown became a first time host in 2001, and Brian Shimanek joined the committee that year. He helped with
Green Bay becoming a first time host for the tournament in 2003.  
On October 2, 2000 Doug Johnson stepped down from the state committee, and Harry Roecker was the new
President. This was also the first time the group left the guidance of the Wisconsin Recreation Association, when a
debt to the West Allis –West Milwaukee Rec center was paid off and the group became self funding.
In 2002, the committee recognized the ever growing popularity of 4 player tournaments, and sponsored the first ever
state 4-man tournament. It quickly became the benchmark for top players to compete in a 4 player tournament format.
The new century also saw several new members join, with Todd Halverson joining in 2003 and Kevin Keisow in 2005.
Kevin brought the 9 player state tournament to his hometown of Oshkosh for the first time in 2006.  Also in 2006 the
committee published the 9th edition of the official rule book. This was an updated version, and for the first time ever
included a color picture of the state approved Wisconsin dartboard along with dimensions for everything on the board.
In 2007, the committee took a huge step toward promoting Dartball, when the started widartball.com, the official
website of the state committee. This helped to publish Dartball tournament information and results, which could easily
be seen by all players. This resulted in even more growth and popularity of the state tournament. Prior to the website,
Dartball information was gathered and passed along by letter and later e-mails. The best at this was Jim Hinckle of
Milwaukee, who unofficially provided the “Dartball News” newsletter and e-mails. For 50 years, many players learned
all Dartball info through the Dartball News.
Led by Harry Roecker’s efforts, the committee went in a new direction in 2009, when they ran the tournament as a
group, and held it at the Ho-Chunk Casino Convention Hall near Wisconsin Dells. This marked the first time teams
had hotel accommodations at the same location of the tournament. This proved very popular with teams, as a record
85 teams participated in tournament. With the record number of teams, came bigger brackets and a more drawn out
event, so in 2010, the committee added a “C” division. This allowed more teams than ever to compete for trophies,
and helped easy scheduling problems.
In 2010, the committee finally acted on Jim Hinckle’s repeated requests to start a Dartball Hall of Fame. On April 10,
2010 the state committee formally introduced the very first class of the Wisconsin Dartball Hall of Fame. Eighteen
Dartball players from around the state were inducted during a ceremony held at noon during the 71st annual state
Dartball tournament. The website gives the committee a place to permanently honor these and future Hall of Fame
Dartball players.
At the state meeting held November 6, 2010 officers were officially elected to the state committee. Harry Roecker was
elected president, Bob Leskovar vice president, Scott Peterson state secretary, and Kevin Kohlbeck state treasurer.
The committee also voted in 16 new members to the Dartball Hall of Fame.
Cardboard Dartboards and Darts can be
purchased at: DARTBALLUSA.COM
Click here to read an article from
LIFE Magazine about Dartball, written
in 1941: LIFE Magazine 1941