Ask anyone who knew him or saw him play and they have no doubts – Rab Smith was one of the finest darts players of his generation. He did battle with – and defeated – giants of the game like Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Bobby George. In his golden year of 1977 the Scot came within a whisker of becoming world number one. But five years later he quit the professional game and returned home to his family in Dumfries and Galloway. No wonder people with a knowledge of the sport – and the man – have been lining up to pay tribute after he died last month.
Born in Moniaive in Dumfries and Galloway in 1948, he went to Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhill before taking up a job in forestry. By the time he was a teenager he was travelling into Dumfries regularly to play darts and his talent was obvious from the outset. He played for Scotland for the first time in 1973 and continued to represent the team until 1982 – captaining his country for five years. "In the late 1970s a Scottish national team without Rab Smith was unthinkable," said historian of the sport, Patrick Chaplin, widely known as Dr Darts. "During 1977 Rab decided to go professional whilst title followed title as he appeared to be virtually unstoppable."
Among other successes that year was the Evo-Stik Golden Darts tournament – the winner got an 18-carat set along with a cheque for £1,000 – and he gained the nickname Mr Golden Darts. "When the world rankings were announced in early 1978, Rab Smith was in fourth place," said Chaplin. "If he had won just one more major tournament during 1977, he would have been number one." Smith also enjoyed a moment of unusual celebrity in the 1981 film, an American Werewolf in London. When the lead character turns on a television set in the movie, a match briefly appears between the Scot and Cliff Lazarenko. "Rab Smith, a neat, dapper, little character," the commentator says.
He was still at the top of his game and one of its most recognisable figures when he walked away from the sport at the highest level in 1982. He told Chaplin: "The kids were young and I was never at home; sometimes being away six days a week. I didn't want to lose my family life so I gave up." Graham Lennox, from Dumfries, grew up watching Smith's exploits and then, as a teenager, played in a team with him in the local league. He said his boyhood hero's talent for the game was still clearly evident. "I used to watch this guy on the telly and then all of a sudden I'm sitting playing darts with him and listening to his stories," he said. "In the Dumfries League, he stood out like a sore thumb – nobody could touch him. Most people would see they were drawn against Rab Smith and that was them beaten straight away."
As well as a sporting talent, Lennox said Smith was a special person too and a lifelong friend. "A nicer guy you couldn't meet, an absolute diamond of a guy," he added. Wullie Burns, from Irvine, was another to be impressed by Smith's gift for the game. "When I first met Rab, I was maybe about 18 years old and he was a superstar of Scottish darts at the time – before Jocky Wilson and people like that," he said. "Rab was the main man. There was none better in Scotland at that time, and there were maybe only two or three in the world." He got to know him via fellow international Rab Fotheringham and they would travel to matches together. They also played county darts together for Ayrshire at a time when Dumfries did not have a team. "He was the best," said Burns. "At that time he was beating John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Leighton Rees, Alan Evans, all these boys." Burns said even the Crafty Cockney himself recognised the man he called the Woodcutter from Dumfries as a "cracking player". "He was just a gentleman – a quiet, reserved gentleman with not a bad word to say about anybody," he added.
Davie Hanson of Scottish Darts Exhibitions tells a similar story of a player he described as the "smartest dressed man in darts – always immaculate". "He was a wonderful, wonderful player, he really, really was – and a heart of gold, an absolute gentleman," he recalled. "You're in the era of Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Cliff Lazarenko, all these kind of guys – Rab knew them all and beat them all." He reckons he had the game to compete in the modern era too. "There's got to be some natural ability and he certainly had it," said Hanson. "You can practice all day, every day for 10 hours, it doesn't mean you're going to be world champion. You've got to have something extra – and Rab Smith definitely had it."