He was the former world darts champion who achieved fame, fortune and even once ‘appeared’ on Top of the Pops before returning to his Fife roots with cash and health problems, reportedly going on to live as a virtual recluse.
But in Kirkcaldy, where former miner Jocky Wilson developed his world-beating skills at the long-closed Lister Bar, and at the still functioning Alpha Bar where most thoughts were on the Old Firm clash, news of his death at the age of 62 was met with sadness as people recalled his toothless grin and cheeky quips that won him fans around the world during the 1980s and 1990s.
Jocky died at his home in Kirkcaldy on Saturday night, just two days after his 62nd birthday. Wilson, who won world titles in 1982 and 1989, had recently been suffering from chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Wilson turned professional in 1979 and enjoyed a stellar career through to his retirement in 1996. He reached at least the quarter-finals of every World Championship between 1979 and 1991 and was a four-time British champion between 1981 and 1988 and a three-time Scottish Masters champion.
Two-time World Championship runner-up Bobby George wrote on his Twitter: “Farewell John Thomas (Jocky) Wilson. We had some great times together will never forget you and your toothless grin! Great darts legend.”
Born in Kirkcaldy in 1950, Wilson, a former miner at the town’s Seafield Colliery, entered the sport as it began gaining in popularity with television audiences.
Following his retirement Wilson withdrew from public life, and returned to Kirkcaldy from Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, where he had moved in the 1980s.
During a rare interview in the late 1990s his wife said he hadn’t lifted a dart since 1995 and did little more than “sit and watch football on the telly” and go to see his sister and brothers.
Wilson was married to Argentinian-born Malvina, and had three children, a daughter Anne Marie, and two sons John and William.
Photo by Don Morley/EMPICS Sport