Last Sunday, I made the relatively short drive to St. Louis for the 2022 Blueberry Hill Open. It’s been a few years since I played in the tournament, but this year, I wasn’t heading down there to play. I was going “home” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the oldest tournament in the United States! That’s right, it’s been around longer than the ADO even…

The first Blueberry Hill Open was held in February 1973, just five months after Joe Edwards opened his famed restaurant/bar – and he hasn’t missed a year since! That’s right, even a pandemic couldn’t stop Joe from keeping it going.

The first tournament just featured an open singles event, and it was won by the late John Reichwein (above). Over the years, the tournament expanded, and Reichwein went on to add a further four titles to his name. Sadly, John Reichwein passed away in 1987, so I was never able to meet him.

Of course, Blueberry Hill isn’t just about darts; it’s one of the best places in St. Louis to eat, it’s known for live music (Chuck Berry played there over 200 times), and it is a treasure trove of rock ‘n’ roll / pop culture memorabilia. Joe Edwards owns much of the area, including hotels and theaters, and now Delmar has been named “One of the Ten Great Streets in America” by the American Planning Association! However, it was the bar that started it all, and it is still very much the center of his world.

As I said, the first tournament was just an open singles event, held on just two dartboards, with a first prize (Joe thinks) of $25! We have come a long, long way since then, and many of the world’s top names have visited the Delmar Loop to try to get their photo on the celebrated Darts Wall of Fame. Some have succeeded – such as three times World Champ John Part, and former PDC Women’s World Champ Stacy Bromberg, and some haven’t – like Mr. Nine-darter himself, Paul Lim.

Two players that haven’t competed at the Blueberry Hill Open, but have certainly played there, are John Lowe and Barry Twomlow! They have both been been there to put on exhibiions.

One of the things that makes the tournament so special is that the main singles events are still 301 DI/DO! You would think that it could keep some players away, but certainly not this year. This time, we had Jules Van Dongen, who was the #11 seed in the WDF World Championship in January, and a Dutch buddy of his, emerging PDC star, Danny Jansen. Jules won the cricket singles, and Danny made top 4, but the 301 foiled them.

On the women’s side, former US World Cup star Lisa Ayers came up from Chattanooga – but didn’t stay for the 301 singles – which left former World Masters finalist (and three-time Blueberry Hill Open Champion) Brenda Roush as possible favourite. Again, it wasn’t to be.

The women’s final turned out to be an all-Cincinnati affair, with Kelli Rinear and Sherry Wright battling it out, and it was Rinear who got her photo up on the wall with an impressive display.

The men’s final was between Wisconsin native Steve Hilger, and Ohio’s Gavin Nicoll. If you think the name “Nicoll” sounds familiar, it’s because his dad Timmy was an experienced international competitor, and Aunt Julie won the women’s singles at the Blueberry Hill Open! Well, 21-year-old Gavin emerged as champion after a hard-fought final, making him the youngest champion ever!

A fitting end to an incredible weekend of memories and reminiscing, of seeing old friends, and of course, great darts! However, I will let you in on a little secret…

Before the singles, we had a group photo of all the previous singles champs who were there. As Julie Nicoll couldn’t make it, Gavin Nicoll was asked to step in and ‘represent’ her. Little did we know that within five hours, Gavin was actually going to earn his place in the photo on merit! You can find a complete list of the singles champions here

Here’s to the next 50 years at the Blueberry Hill Open!

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