A dart player, Jocky Wilson–dead in sobriety, and an artist, Thomas Kinkade–dead from alcoholism
Jocky Wilson, darts player, dead at 62 from complications of COPD. Jocky, a chain-smoker for 40 years, became the first Scot to win the World Darts Championship in 1982, repeating the feat in 1989 during what The Economist called the golden age of darts, when the sport became a “gladiatorial televised spectacle second only to soccer.” He started playing as a way to get shillings to buy pints; as good as he was, a cigarette in one hand and dart in the other, he often threw games, once so drunk he could barely walk and another time falling from the stage. The Economist reported he often fueled “himself with seven pints of lager…topped with vodka.” He invested some of his winnings in a home, where he “filled the garden with empties until the neighbors asked him to move.” (Note that the neighbors, who could have asked him to remove the trash, instead asked him to move. One can only imagine the other goings-on they were forced to put up with.) In the mid-‘90s after he was diagnosed with diabetes, he appears to have been scared sober: he stopped drinking and playing darts cold-turkey. He may have realized he would not be able to play well, as he likely learned to play while drunk: alcoholics, once sober, often must re-learn sports and skills learned while drinking (which may explain Tiger Woods’ performance after his divorce—he finally admitted the drinking and drugging “impaired the judgment”—and his performance since has been abysmal).
“Painter of Light” artist Thomas Kinkade, dead at age 54 from “natural causes” after a night of “heavy” drinking. While the art establishment dismissed his work, Kinkade’s sentimental and inspirational paintings of cottages, country gardens, lighthouses and churches in dewy morning light are beloved by millions. His paintings, prints and spin-off products such as teddy bears and La-Z-Boy loungers, reportedly bring in $100 million in sales yearly and are believed to be in at least 10 million homes, including ours. Yet, he was accused of using religion to gain the trust of prospective investors, who successfully sued Kinkade’s production arm, Pacific Metro, for fraudulently inducing them to invest in Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries. A day after a $1 million payment was due on a judgment from one such lawsuit, Pacific Metro filed for bankruptcy. In 2010 Kinkade, whose alcoholism almost assuredly ran in the family (he came from a “broken home and a rough childhood”), pleaded no contest to a DUI arrest. Among many escapades while drunk, he heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy at their Las Vegas show and cursed a former employee’s wife who tried to help him after falling from a bar stool. He often went to strip clubs and bars with employees, where he “frequently” got drunk and “out-of-control.” One former employee described him as a “Jekyll-and-Hyde character, whose behavior worsened as the alcohol flowed.” Kinkade’s alcoholism, like that of so many others, drove him to extraordinary success with a tragic outcome.