This is a clip of when Dan and I won 1st at state.
Lucky was so happy and so proud.
He said it was one of the best moments of his life.
His Bar, His Family.
We both cried :) 

Sometime in the late 80’s, I met Lucky. I try to remember the exact place and date, but it does not seem to be readily available in my memories of him.

 Most likely, it was during a dart tournament. I was a complete new comer to the soft tip dart world. Having grown up playing steel tips, with literally those crummy plastic flighted darts that you can pick up at any bar. That is what my dad had given us kids, from England on one of his many Air Force flights around the world.

I do remember that I was using these soft tip darts, playing in a bar tournament for the first time, and Lucky was the guy that rated me. He brought me in as a 2 or 3, under the old rating system.

 Before you knew it, Lucky and I were on a League team together, I was a 5, and he was up there, 8 or 9 I believe. We had a lot of fun on dart leagues together, and doing tournaments. Probably, very similar to many, many of you.

 In the 90’s, Lucky and I were coordinating darts, him at the Bat Rack and me at Foxy’s Pub. We were always trying to see who could bring in the biggest Dart tournaments. The competition was fierce but I think he beat me more often than not for crowd size. Lucky also taught me so much about Darts, which was actually also teaching me about his life.

 We lived together in the early 90’s after my divorce. Lucky actually helped be pull out of that depression. We partied like there was no tomorrow and boy were there some parties. One, at the house I owned in the Seattle Hill Road area, was just a massive rock and roll party. Funniest thing you could ever see, Lucky in his swim suit, going down the full size water slide he had convinced me to buy and put in our back yard with the pool. I bought it from the old Snoqualmie water park that went bankrupt. Everyone competed, even then, at the party, to see who could get down that 75 foot water slide in the fastest time. After a very long day of eating, drinking and just plain old partying, it was Lucky and me in the race for who would take first place. I beat the big man, but the funniest part was that all day, with maybe 100 trips down that water slide, he continued to race even though each time he came out of the pool with his swim trunks wedged so tight they looked like speedos. (I sure wish I had a picture of that to put in his tribute. Times like that is how I remember Lucky.)

 Lucky was one of the biggest hearted people I ever knew. My wife, Diane, and I went through many different adventures with Lucky over 21 years. With him and Gary Tinder (GT), we felt and became a part of something bigger than just ourselves or our family, as part of Lucky’s dart world. Lucky was instrumental in our first business venture, Eagle Darts over on the Olympic Peninsula, and was not just our friend, but our working partner.

 Lucky was a promotions genius when it came to darts. Whether it was tournaments, league teams or just promoting open play, there is absolutely no-one that could compete with Lucky’s ideas.

 He knew what we as dart players really wanted. He cared about each and every one of us, and it showed through in every aspect of his life while I knew him.

 I have heard some people, without any animosity, question how lucky was Lucky, really?

 These last few years, just looking physically, nothing else, he went through a broken left shoulder, a right then left leg blood vein bypass, than each leg being amputated below the knee, and finally, two days before his passing, another broken shoulder, his right one after being flipped out of his beautiful new powered wheel chair.

 He passed in his sleep due to complications with pain medications. Diane talked to him just hours before, for a long time, and as she has said, he was calm and in good spirits. In all those years of physical mishaps and pain, Lucky never once was much for complaining. Yes, he hurt, and we all talked allot, but although afraid of what the future might bring, he seemed to always pull himself up and move forward.

 I was fortunate in my life with the jobs I attained and have travelled all over the world. From 1997 until January 2010, Diane and I with our family moved and lived in many locations around the United States. Lucky always kept in touch with us and on our return to Seattle in 2010, we went right back into playing darts wherever Lucky was at, and in this case down in Edmonds and then at Flights Pub in Everett.

Lucky was with us a lot of the time, doing holiday events, and overall enjoying his life in the bar and the dart world. While at Flights, Diane, Lucky and I decided to start our second business. It took us around 8 months to finally find the right location.

 I called him while I was looking at Craig’s List, and said I had found a place in Everett called the Doghouse. Talk about destiny. All of you that either shot darts with Lucky, or shot against any of his teams over the many, many years, knows that his teams were always named Lucky Dog. (If Medalist retired team names, Lucky Dog should be one, reserved in honor of Charles Lucky Pence.)

 From the moment we did a walkthrough of the Doghouse, the three of us knew, this was going to be the Lucky Dog Sports Bar, The Biggest Little Sports Bar in Everett.

 I have no regrets, in everything I ever did with Lucky, whether competing at darts, or just working through every day life with him, including owning the Lucky Dog Sports Bar, Lucky was my friend.

 I have always been proud of what he accomplished, and am very proud that he allowed me and my family to be a part of his life, and his dreams.

 Yes, people may question how lucky was Lucky, really? Passing at such a young age in his early 50’s. But at the end of the day, Lucky was one of the kindest, biggest hearted people you will have ever met, and from my perspective, he was one of the luckiest. This was because of the vast number of friends and people he knew and the lives that he touched and that touched him, more often than not in a good way.

 Yes, Lucky was my best friend. He was a true friend who always accepted me and mine for who and what we are, without question, without judgment. I will miss him more than words on paper can portray. He will always have a big spot in my heart, and it will be very hard not to be able to talk to him again. I love you Lucky and I know you are in a great place. Thank you for being my friend.

Dan Donnelly