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 ONE of his teachers at Mill Street School in Pontypridd allegedly declared that he would be "good only for reading the sports pages of the South Wales Echo", but after leaving school Leighton Rees found work as a storeman with a motor car spare parts company, remaining in his job for 21 years until deciding to become a professional darts player in 1976.
He lived almost all his life at Ynysybwl, near Pontypridd, where he was born on January 17, 1940. In 1977 Rees was a member of the Wales team that won the first World Darts' Federation World Cup; and was also crowned the World Cup singles champion.
But his finest hour came at the inaugural British Darts Organisation World Professional Darts Championship at Nottingham in February the following year. Rees' lazy arm action was in perfect order and he and compatriot Alan Evans played a classic match that made darts an instant television hit. Evans set the pace with two 180s. Then Rees hit a 10-dart finish - the first ever televised. The crowd loved it and the BBC's executive producer Nick Hunter called it "the arrows that made darts live up to all our expectations".
Warming up for the final in a pub with Eric Bristow's father George and TV commentator Sid Waddell, Rees sank two pints of lager and a brandy, then said he was ready "to give John Lowe a headache". And he did just that, becoming the first world darts champion and taking a prize of £3,000.
After his 1978 world championship victory Rees toured the world as a darts professional; he captained Wales (earning a total of 77 caps for his country) and played county darts for Glamorgan. But he never abandoned his roots. When not playing darts, he was at his happiest at Sardis Road supporting Pontypridd Rugby Club.
Sadly Wales' first darts world champion died in June 2003 at the age of 63. He may not have dominated the sport like 1990 world champion Phil "The Power" Taylor - who won a second title in 1992 before going on to dominate the breakaway Professional Darts Corporation world championships, winning all but two of the titles since the 1994 split - or BDO greats such as Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld and England's Bristow - but he will forever be remembered as neing the first man to lift the crown - and that's a record in the sport that no one will ever be able to take from him.
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