Photo by Carroll Foster
Sandy “Storm” Hudson
AGE: 50
HOME TURF: Greer
CLAIM TO FAME: Professional darts champion
TOP SPONSOR: British darts maker Winmau, which produces a set of “Storm” darts designed to Hudson’s specifications
DAY JOB: Sales manager, Breakthru Beverage Group
SPORTING HISTORY: Before darts, she was a two-sport athlete at Eastside High School in Taylors and played basketball for Mars Hill University
If you ever run into Sandy “Storm” Hudson at a sports bar, don’t challenge her to a casual game of darts—unless you intend to lose.
As her nickname implies, Hudson is a force of nature, making a name for herself internationally as a professional player of Cricket (in which players aim to close out the board with three strikes in the numbers 15–20 and the bull’s-eye) and 501 (in which players subtract their points from 501 until they get to zero).
When Hudson steps up to the line, she operates with a laser-like focus, a consistency of repetition and an unwavering confidence—qualities that have earned her six trips to the World Darts Championship in England, 114 singles titles, 34 straight National Qualifier wins and two American Darts Organization National Championships.
“I always had pretty good hand-eye coordination,” she says between games at Local Cue, a Greenville sports bar where she sometimes likes to play after work with her husband/manager, Chuck Hudson. “But confidence is the biggest thing—know the game, know what you do, but also know what your opponent can do. You always assume anybody can beat anybody, so you’ve got to play that way.”
Whether it’s a pickup game with friends, a local tournament or an international competition with big money on the line, Hudson always plays to win, but she also enjoys the social aspects of the sport.
“Darts allows me to be competitive,” she says. “It also allows me to teach. I want to help other dart players better understand the game and the strategies.”
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Get More
Learn more about darts and follow Sandy “Storm” Hudson’s career at sandysdarts.com.