Johnny "John" Cosnett (11 June 1951 – 23 April 2018) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

player who competed in the 1980s & 1990s. He had one daughter (Jane) from his first marriage, and a son (Greg) and daughter (Kirsty) from his second to Cherry.

Career

Cosnett won the 1985 British Open, beating Welshman Peter Locke in the final. Despite winning one of the biggest prizes in the history of professional darts, Cosnett never managed to meet his new-found expectations, which took him to #16 in the World Rankings. He competed in the

1985 BDO World Darts Championship The 1985 Embassy World Darts Championship was the 8th World Professional Championships. The tournament was held between 5 and 12 January. It was the seventh and final time that the tournament was held at the Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke-on-Tr ...

, and won the opening round against Rab Scott, but was defeated in the second round by his fellow Englishman

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

. He also competed in the 1985

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

, defeating Keith Deller in the first round, before losing to

Steve Gittins Stephen Gittins (29 August 1959 – 20 February 2013) was an English professional darts player. Career Gittins played twice at the BDO World Darts Championship. In 1989, he beat Finland's Kexi Heinäharju in the first round but lost in the ...

in the last 16 stage. John appeared on ITV's

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

in 1985 as the celebrity darts player, and made the highest score of the series - 361. After that, Cosnett never played in any more major tournaments and faded out of mainstream darts. In 2006, Cosnett suffered a serious stroke which almost killed him, followed by another several months later which he also survived. He blamed the smoking and drinking culture of the 1980s and '90s Darts scene for this. After battling through several more health scares over the following years, he was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. After surviving the initial prognosis of 3 months, he was seemingly doing well through 2017, being cared for by his wife, Cherry. However, after a hospital check in early 2018, it was found the cancer had spread, and he died on 23 April 2018.

World Championship Results

BDO

* 1985: Last 32: (lost to

0–3) (sets)

External links

Profile and stats on Darts Database
English darts players 1951 births 2018 deaths sportspeople from Wolverhampton British Darts Organisation players {{England-sport-bio-stub