By GERRY FALL NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Above, dart leaguer Gary Braun launches his dart on one of the four dart boards at the James Joyce last week during the semifinals of the Santa Barbara Darts Association Playoffs. Braun, who also plays in a heavy metal band, has a Ph.D. and does cancer research, is one of an eclectic group of people who take part in the darts league that has been in competition for nearly 40 years. Below right, former pro skateboarder Ron Washburn prepares to take a shot. Below left, Erik Schiefen shows his precision by firing three bull's eyes. MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS

Tom Crawford lets his opponent know of hitting two 18's during a game of cricket at The James Joyce in a Santa Barbara Darts Association playoff match.

Over drinks and jokes Jeff Hewes, center, lightens the mood during a break in darts during dart league night at The James Joyce. Hewes played 10 years on the PGA Tour and holds the record for a low round at Santa Barbara Golf Club.

Their backgrounds could hardly be more different.

Gary Braun is a cancer research specialist at UCSB with a Ph.D. in chemistry. Jeff Hughes went tee-to-green off and on for 10 years on the PGA Tour. Rob Washburn kick-flipped and heel-flipped his way into sponsorship deals and magazine articles as a professional skateboarder. Tom Crawford made a habit back in the day of striking fear into the eyes of his opponents as a heavyweight wrestler.

But they do have something in common.

The quartet stood side-by-side with other competitors last week at The James Joyce bar in Santa Barbara - a few paces from a board - pointed object in hand - hoping to score well enough to win a small cup that can best be described as hideous.

"Everybody gets a clean slate, and you basically come in and see if you can win a stupid little cup sitting up there," Santa Barbara Darts Association president Erik Schiefen said of the worst looking item in "The Joyce" during last week's league semifinal round. "It's really a terrible looking trophy, it really is, but it's ours and it's symbolic."

It's the dust-collecting crown jewel of a league that has existed since the early 1970s and today boasts of some of the best dart throwers in the nation.

"We go down to ADO (American Dart Organization) tournaments and travel around the country to places like (Las) Vegas and we see the best dart throwers in the world," said Hughes, who holds the course record, with a 59, at the Santa Barbara Golf Club. "I practice darts two or three hours a day. I used to practice eight hours a day in golf, but it was my job in those days."

Hughes had a good reason for trading in his clubs for a set of darts.

"My sciatica and both rotator cuffs went out on me, so I found a game that I only had to walk eight feet," he said with a laugh.

Whatever their reasons for toeing the line and attempting the triple-20 throw, members of the SBDA have found life in front of the board to be quite pleasurable with every toss.

"I look forward to this," said Braun, the captain of team Your Mom, which plays The Dubliners next week for the league titke.

Braun, with shaggy brown hair, looks like someone who might hang around a bar and throw darts - which he has done competitively for six years - but that's his way of unwinding. He also does nanomaterial research for cancer therapies at UCSB and plays in a heavy metal band.

"This is fun because it is different, but it requires a lot of focus just like any other sport," he said.

For Crawford, dart competition is a fairly new challenge in his life. He's only been playing for two years, but the biggest guy in the room has already established himself as one of the big throwers in the league.

"I was just playing in here, occasionally, and just got spotted by someone in the dart league who said 'you should be in the dart league, dude, you've got talent,'" said Crawford, who clearly had talent when it came to the mat.

As a wrestler at Dos Pueblos High School, he finished second in the state his senior year. At Oklahoma State, he lettered as a sophomore on a Cowboys' team that was ranked fourth in the nation.

But darts is now serious business for Crawford, who said he plays four or five days a week.

Washburn gained national and international notoriety as a member of Powell Peralta's famed Bones Brigade skate team. He began his tricks and daredevil moves on a skateboard at the age of 14.

Well retired from a sport that provided him plenty of bumps and bruises, Washburn now keeps his feet on the ground - taking aim at a board with lots of numbers - and little margin for error.

"It's just a good group of guys who grew up doing what they were best at, and then one day they picked up a dart and decided that this is a lot of fun," Washburn said. "Here we are, just an eclectic group of people playing darts together. Skateboarding was my number one passion, but I do like coming down here and hanging out with a lot of good people and throwing darts.

"It's better than sitting at home on the couch."

These guys are no joke when it comes to hitting the number at which they are throwing. The cup that awaits the winner, now that's a different story.