Fluke meeting sticks 2 points

Bob Cloud

Friday, July 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Stacy Bromberg was introduced to a new athletic career -- and a future husband -- all on the same evening nine years ago.

Bromberg, a Las Vegas resident and the No. 1 ranked women's dart player in America by the American Darts Organization, had never played prior to being introduced to the sport by a friend. It didn't take her long to realize she had a natural talent for the game.

"It was a fluke," Bromberg said. "I was at a bar and a friend of mine was a person short for a darts team. I really didn't know anything about the game, and they had to walk me through the rules as I went along. I won that night, and I went out and bought an inexpensive set of darts and started to practice.

"The same night my husband-to-be came over and told me I could really be good at the game. At the time I didn't believe him, but that's the way I met him."

Once she got a taste of darts, the native Californian quickly became hooked. Hours of practice time took her from being a complete novice to world-class pro in just two years.

"I came up unusually quickly," said Bromberg, who turned pro in 1989. "For years, people have told me that I moved along much faster than normal. The key is I put in a lot of long hours of hard practice. There's really no substitute for that."

And the practice has paid off. The holder of more than 50 tournament titles, Bromberg last month captured the Canadian Open Championship in Toronto. In August, she'll defend her title at the North American Open at the Tropicana, before heading to London in December for the Winmau World Masters Tournament, an event in which she placed second a year ago.

She has been a pioneer of sorts as well. Last October, she became the first American to be a finalist in the prestigious Jersey Isle Festival of Darts on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.

Her success has drawn notice, as she recently was offered the chance to try a set of Accudart Power Points, a new advancement in darts equipment.

Bromberg performs at a highly competitive level, but says that's not crucial to enjoying the game.

"The sport is open to anyone. It's available to both sexes, the handicapped, the young and old -- it doesn't matter. I've also found it to be a great way to teach math skills to kids," she said.

While darts has long been linked to smoke-filled bars and free-flowing libations -- an image Bromberg detests -- she believes the overall perception of her sport has begun to change for the positive.

"I don't drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes when I compete. I think it hurts the hand-eye coordination," she said.

"This is a game of incredible precision. When people take a good look at darts, they come to see that."

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