Well, let me say right up front that this was all Juanita Taylor’s fault. She is the owner/bartender/cook at the Laid Back Club. She was crazy enough to agree to sponsoring a dart team I was putting together. Approximately 10 years ago Brad Phillips and myself (Jim Dunham) found ourselves in need of players to replace several players we had lost on a team from the previous league session that had just ended. I began checking around and talking to people to find shooters that could hopefully throw a good game but more importantly would be fun to be on a team with. This was the informal beginning of the Lounge Lizzards. This was ten years ago or so and as I said my recollection may be off slightly but this is what I recall. At the time I did not know Ron Barrows all that well. We had played against each other and were acquainted. I spoke with other darters and Brad and I agreed Ron would be a good choice. I asked Ron to join us and he agreed. Every player with the exception of Brad and myself since the inception of the team has been discussed and accepted by all team members before being brought in as a member. The next person we discussed and chose as our fourth player was Dennis Mchugh who we decided would be a good teammate also. We had a solid team, did well, had a great time. This was the lineup for a couple of sessions. Somewhere along the way we picked up a fifth player by the name of Dan Asplen who was a scout for the Baltimore Orioles and was in Wichita temporarily. With this team we won the first known trophy awarded to the Lizzards that carried the team name. As I recall Dan played one session and when he had to leave we asked Kenny Chamberlain to be our fifth player. After a time Dennis McHugh dropped out and we were left with Kenny Chamberlain, Ron Barrows, Brad Phillips and myself. After all these years of play, Ron and I have played every season the Lizzards have been together. After picking up Kenny he also became a permanent fixture and has played every season since. Many variations of the Lizzards came and went but the three of us remained good friends and active as Lizzards.

    Some of the other teams we were playing had team names and I thought we should have a team name to identify with also. I signed us up as the Laid Back Lounge Lizzards and informed the team the first night we played that I had named us after a computer game I had been playing by the name of "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizzards". I got a few strange looks from my teammates (which would not be the last time) but the name was accepted. For me personally it made darts more fun to have an identity that we and others could relate to. I recall one season that the WDA actually did away with team names claiming they were to much of a nuisance. I opposed this strongly enough to actually threaten to drop out of the WDA and the names were reinstated the next season. I believed if teams had identities it was more fun and exciting for all. The difference was this as I see it. If you looked at the schedule and all you saw was that team #3 was playing team #7 so what. On the other hand if you saw a schedule listing the Lizzards playing the Rat Bastards you knew who was playing and that it was a classic rivalry. The names have a tendency to reflect the personality of the team over time. Many variations of the Lizzard name were used over the years but we were always Lizzards. I will list all variations I can recall towards the end of this history.

    Each season I took it upon myself to make sure the team had enough players and would continue playing year round. If any Lizzards dropped out for the summer or permanently I would consult with the current active Lizzards and recruit replacements to fill spots that opened up. I will not go through the roster of all the Lizzards that have played over the years individually because I would probably screw it up. I will though, list all Lizzards past and present that I can recall at the end of the story.

    My goal was to keep the team going, build a loyal, fun loving and crazy team that everyone would be proud of and enjoy being a part of. I don’t want to sound big headed but I believe I succeeded. I made it part of my duties as the team captain to try and come up with ideas to make us unique and keep the team interesting. I wanted my teammates to want to be Lizzards. Many of you will remember some off the antics I would dream up to keep us in perspective. Meaning the game comes second, the opportunity to laugh and have a good time with good friends came first. In the beginning it started with silly things like adding pennies to the WDA (Wichita Darting Association) checks to pay our weekly team fees. This drove the WDA secretaries’ nuts and each month at the captains meetings sure enough there were those pennies on the Treasurer’s report and someone would pipe up "Where are those pennies comin’ from". Just as quickly someone would yell out that it was Little Arnie (my old nickname) and those damn Lizzards again and everyone would get a good laugh. That, I believe was our first trademark as a team. I then started filling out checks in various ways. One that comes to mind is one that I wrote for "One Thousand Itty Bitty Pennies". It got to the point the other teams would come over at the end of our matches just get see how the check was written that week. Another one of our antics was to sign "Little Arnie" as the team captain on the league results sheet. This as I mentioned was a nickname I used in computer gaming and so I thought what the heck might as well use it in darts. This went on for several seasons until the WDA decided it was against the rules to have a fictitious non-member sign the league score sheets. When I informed the Lizzards of this the problem was immediately resolved on the spot during a Thursday night league at Cy’s club. I took up a collection and gave it to the WDA Secretary requesting a membership for Little Arnie. I still have his membership card. This I think was the same night I noticed that all my team members including myself were staring across the bar at a young lady sitting in a compromising position and I coined the phrase "how many Lizzards does it take to stare down a beaver". The answer I believe is however many are present but is still somewhat of a mystery. Somewhere during this period the most well known Lizzard trademark was born. I took a liking to make it a point to shoot double one outs bypassing occasionally the standard outs usually shot at. I found I had pretty good success with this, got a kick out of doing it and seeing people’s reactions. I also received a lot of strange looks. Most folks thought I was nuts. I kept up my crusade and continued proclaiming to all who would listen to make double one your friend. Well soon I started encouraging the other Lizzards to go after the elusive double one and before long we were rewarding each other with shots of liquor for any Lizzard taking out an 01 game on double one (The Lizzard Out). The whole damn league thought we were crazy, and rightly so. It was not too long after that you would hear people talking about hitting the Lizzard Out in a dart match they had played against someone who may not even have been a Lizzard. Guess what? They were always smiling and thinking good thoughts about those crazy Lounge Lizzards. Who’d a thunk it?

    Time passed and the Lizzards lineup would change occasionally. At some point the Lizzards became regulars at the Chuck & Sticks Chicken Coop Open in Noel, Mo. About this time my title changed from Little Arnie to the Head Lizzard and I carry it proudly. I believe this was Cap’n Kenny’s doing but I am not sure. Not long after I purchased a plastic lizard on a business trip (see top of page) to Tucson and dubbed him the team mascot. He now appears on all Lizzard fliers, T-Shirts, stationary etc… and resides on the dash of my Honda CRV at all times. Anyway, each year I would show up with the team mascot Lizzard at the Chicken Coop and next thing you knew my teammates were showing up at the Coop with their Lizzards. Where can you find a crazier bunch than the Lounge Lizzards. The Chicken Coop antics did not stop there. A few years back Ginny Donley (Cap’n Ginny of the Rat Bastards) shot Kenny a moon at the Coop. Not to be out done a plan was formulated by the Lizzards for the next Coop. If I recall correctly Ron, Kenny, Jimmie Fleetwood and myself were sitting at the end of the bar at the Laid Back Club discussing the possibilities when Ron came up with a brilliant idea. Why not write our team name on our butts and all moon Ginny’s team at the next Coop. I quickly did the math and discovered we had exactly the right number of cheeks to spell out Lizzards. Off we went to the Coop the next year and with the exception of myself who showed up pre-printed, all the Lizzards had their letters drawn on their butts by Sherri Blanchat. The Lizzard moon tribute paraded through the campsites of the Coop that Saturday night. The rest is history. That same Coop the mighty River Lizzard set sail on the Sunday canoe float and many a turtle feared for their lives at the mighty roar, AR AR AR AR AR of this Mcdonald’s Happy Meal Lizzard hand puppet. He also attends the Coop every year now and represents the war cry AR AR AR AR AR of the Lizzards. Another Lizzard trademark was adopted sometime in the last few years, which is known as flaps down. I am fairly sure the flap salute can be attributed to Jimmie Fleetwood. Kind of a high five in a Lizzardly fashion. I have even had non-Lizzards display flappage and of course always smiling. All these things I think kept the team fresh, fun and more of a family than just a dart team. We even have our own Lizzard awards now. The Honorary Lizzard or Lizzbian Award is a much sought after honor nowadays. Why? I believe because it represents the spirit of darts. Good fun, good friends and good sportsmanship. The idea originated at the 2001 Air Capital Open. I (the Head Lizzard) had been watching several matches of the Lady’s Doubles match that Leanna Clifford and Inez Thompson had teamed up on. They had made it several rounds and were throwing quite well. One of the legs ended up with Inez and Leanna sitting on double one for the out. Leanna made a comment about being on the Lizzard Out (double one). I told her and Inez that if either of them took the Lizzard Out for the win that I would personally make them a certificate proclaiming the one that took it out an Honorary Lizzard. As it turned out Leanna hit the double one. I filled my teammates in on what had transpired and all agreed that the award would be a great idea and a lot of fun. We awarded it to Leanna at the next WDA General Membership Meeting. She was unaware that we were going to do this and I believe was very surprised and proud to be the Laid Back Lounge Lizzards first Honorary Lizzbian with a framed certificate that had the serial number 001. It was decided that we would continue this tradition at the AirCap each year with one Honorary Lizzard and one Honorary Lizzbian Award for the women.

    In the last year and a half or so the Lizzards have evolved a great deal. In 2001 we put together our first tournament the last weekend of August. Seven active Lizzards, several in-Active Lizzards from past teams and many of our darting friends pitched in to help. The tournament was aptly named The LizzardPalooza and was a huge success. The tournament took several months of preparation and was held on the property of Kenny Chamberlain and his family (super people and gracious hosts). Ten boards were set up outdoors with 100% pay back on all events. First place event winners were rewarded with awesome hand made stone Lizzard plaques as well as cash. The plaques were made by Linda Waggoner (Linda Lu Lizzbian) and were probably the coolest and most unique awards I have seen. We also had an Honorary Lizzard and Lizzbian award up for grabs for the first to hit the elusive double one out. These were won by Sherri Blanchat (Honorary Lizzbian) and Brian Byrnes (Honorary Lizzard). Live music was provided by a local band of friends called Savage who kicked ass. Between sets we were entertained with some awesome acoustic music. Mike and Debbie Seely, Eric (can’t remember last name) and several other musicians including Kenny’s Uncle. I wish I could remember the names of all the acoustic players but I can recall only a few. I (the Head Lizzard) had the privilege to blow a little harmonica with both groups and had a blast. The WDA threw in with us and had their annual picnic at the Palooza too. This was totally financed from the fees paid to the WDA’s current executive counsel. John Classen provided a giant smoker (not a Richard Smoker) and his cooking skills, which kept everybody’s bellies full, were much appreciated. The WDA also allowed us to use ten standards which were also appreciated. Almost 100 LizzardPalooza 2001 T-Shirts were sold to help offset tournament costs. I haven’t checked numbers for certain but I believe our T-Shirts outsold any darting tournament held in Wichita to date. Again, thanks to Linda Lu (Waggoner) Lizzard who took my digital photos of our plastic team mascot and using her artistic ability transformed them into an awesome T-Shirt design. Coors at the request of Rocky Little John donated 2 kegs of beer and chalker prizes. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Harley Adams and Debbie Goodrich who provided a great deal of support for the LizzardPalooza. Through their connections they found good rates on outhouse rentals, T-Shirts and got Star Lumber to donate a flatbed trailer for a band stand. Last but no least Juanita Taylor (Ma Lizzard and owner of the Laid Back Club) provided halogen lights for the band and sponsors our team. If anyone is left out you know who you are and know that your efforts were very much appreciated. Camper parking and tent camping were available and many spent the entire weekend at the LizzardPalooza. The tournament went off without a hitch and in this Lizzards opinion was the best and most enjoyable darting event I had the pleasure to be a part of in 20 years of Wichita darting. Months after the event it is still being talked about. It was a very special event which brought out some of the WDA old timers as well as all our new darting friends and family. The event is planned again for 2002 on the last weekend of August. Why in the heat of August you may ask? Figure it out, we are Lizzards. Anyway it looks to be an annual event that will be looked forward to by all for years to come.

    I am very proud and lucky to have enjoyed the company of so many fine darters and good times we have had and hopefully will continue to have. Well, that brings things pretty current with the exception of the list I promised earlier. Here goes to the best of my recollection. Keep in mind though, once a Lizzard, always a Lizzard.

Lizzards Active

Jim Dunham - Head Lizzard

Kenny Chamberlain – Captain on the Bridge

Dave Rosendale – Gecko Dave

Jimmie Fleetwood – Mr. Fleetwood to you

Dale Casey - Dale de Scale

Dennis McHugh - Dirty D

The Inactive List

Norm Vandiver – Stormin’ Norman

Brad Phillips – Animal (sometimes Scruff)

Linda Waggoner – Linda Lu Lizzbian

Ron Barrows – ZZ Bottoms

Larry Crowl

Dennis Cook

Jeremy Fleetwood

Rick Lowery

Dan Asplen

Honorary Lizzards/Lizzbians

Leanna Clifford - Wichita

Sherri Blanchat - Wichita

Brian Byrnes – Wichita

Dave Bob Marshall – Tulsa, OK.

Sandy Leah - Wichita

Scott Thompson - Wichita

Cheryl Andree - Wichita

Team Name Variations

Laid Back Lounge Lizzards

Return of the Lizzards

Revenge of the Lizzards

Leapin’ Lizzards

Lizzards at Large

Lizzards ‘R’ Us

Webe Lizzards

E Pluribus Lizzards

J.F. Lizzards (Just F'ing Lizzards)

    For quite some time I added a z to the Lizzard name until I lost track. But I believe it got up to five z’s. It got to the point that after a few beers it got hard to keep track of just how many z’s there were supposed to be so I settled on two. Yes, of course I am aware that Webster’s Dictionary spells it Lizzards with only one z but then again Webster has never met this dart team. Does it sound like I take a lot of credit for what has occurred? You bet your ass. This dart team and the people who played on it in the past and play on it now are all important to me and good friends. I have worked hard every season for nearly 10 years to keep the team together, keep us active, keep it fun, keep it light, and to create the Lizzard identity we are all proud of. This is without a doubt the finest, funniest, craziest and longest running dart team in the history of the WDA. Do I have a big head? Maybe, but I think I earned it! After all I am the Head Lizzard and proud of it!!

Thanks

H.L.

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