Charlie Jeanblanc throws darts in a dartball pick-up game at the Miller Senior Citizens Center recently. Jeanblanc plays in both the Pekin and Greater Peoria Church Dartball leagues.

by Elise Zwicky

What do you get when you cross a game of darts with a baseball field? That may sound like the start of a joke, but the answer is actually a fun game of dartball.

Basically, baseball played with darts, the game originated locally in the 1930s by the late Frank Kirchner, who had watched it being played on the side of a barn in Wisconsin. Leagues in Peoria, Pekin and Chillicothe play weekly in churches throughout the area.

“I think people enjoy the fellowship,” said Charlie Jeanblanc, a past president of the Pekin Dartball League who has been playing dartball for about 20 years. “There’s also a personal goal for playing well. And like any other sport, there’s a certain amount of goat-getting to try to throw your opponents
off balance.”

Players throw 2-ounce lead-weighted wooden darts underhand at a 4-foot square wooden board resembling a baseball field from a distance of about 15 feet. Just like in baseball, there are nine-member teams, pinch hitters, umpires
and scorekeepers.

“It was an all men’s activity years ago, but now a lot of the teams have two or three women,” said Keith Furniss, president of the Greater Peoria Church Dartball League, which celebrated its 80th anniversary this year. “Way back 50 years ago, they had 32 teams.”

With 14 teams today from Peoria, East Peoria, Washington, Sunnyland and Pekin, the Peoria league plays on Tuesday nights.

Richard Rees pulls his darts out of a dartball board at the Miller Senior Citizens Center. Four dartball leagues play weekly in Peoria, Pekin and Chillicothe at area churches.

“It’s an older league right now, usually from 50 years old up to some in their 80s, but some bring their 12- and 13-year-old grandkids and let them substitute sometimes. I have my 19-year-old granddaughter and 33-year-old son playing,” added Furniss, a Caterpillar Inc. retiree.

The Pekin League, led currently by president Ryan Fairchild, was founded in 1945 and plays on Monday nights with eight teams. There’s also a Peoria Catholic Dartball league with eight teams and a Chillicothe league with four teams.

In addition, the Miller Senior Citizens Center in Pekin has been offering pick-up dartball games twice weekly for about 25 years. Played at 12:30 p.m. Mondays and 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, the games are open to anyone for a nominal activity fee of $1.50.

“Players who want to practice or new players who want to see what it’s all about are welcome to come play at the Miller Center,” said Jeanblanc.

The game requires some hand-eye coordination, but just about anyone can play. “As long as you can maintain your balance at the throwing line and can see 15 feet to throw, I don’t think there are any physical restrictions,” Jeanblanc said. “We’ve had players who use walkers and one gentleman who played in an electric scooter.”

The Greater Peoria and Peoria Catholic leagues have a handicap system similar to bowling to even the playing field a bit between all the teams, said Furniss, who first started playing dartball at age 13.

“I enjoy the fellowship, and it’s something to do,” he said. “Otherwise I’d probably just be home watching TV.”

The season runs from September through February with a break in December. Most of the leagues hold tournaments, as well as a home-run derby and end-of the-season banquet. While most players prefer to buy their own darts for about $25, new players can usually borrow a set to get started. Longtime dartball player Joe Vignassi of Pekin makes and sells both darts and dartball boards.

Anyone interested in joining a Greater Peoria Dartball League team or starting a new team through a church can call Keith Furniss at 692-2466. In Pekin, leave a message for Charlie Jeanblanc at the Miller Center at 346-5210.