Blowgun lets man join in dart play

For almost a year, Shawn Seabaugh watched his buddies play darts, wishing he could join in.

Stricken with muscular dystrophy, Seabaugh, 30, cannot use his arms or his legs. Otherwise, he's just like any other guy. He likes to fish with his buddies, hang out at local pubs, watch NASCAR races and go down to the Benton races every Saturday night during the summer.

But until a couple of months ago, darts were out of the question.

"I was interested, but I didn't know how I could play," Seabaugh said.

With the help of his friends, Seabaugh is now an accomplished dart thrower, er, dart blower.

A blowgun that attaches to the side of his wheelchair allows Seabaugh to compete -- and take home cash prizes -- in the Cape Girardeau dart league.

The contraption is a narrow tube with a mouthpiece on the end that resembles a mouthpiece on a brass instrument. It is attached to the chair with some movable arms. Seabaugh needs help moving the blowgun to his face, but from there, he can line it up.

In a demonstration at his rural Jackson home last week, Seabaugh needed just two tries to nail a triple-20, the highest points on the board.

Ryan Seyer, one of Seabaugh's dart teammates, said he has known Seabaugh for a long time.

"We always took him with us about every Monday night," he said. However, the team became short-handed this session, or season, and was looking for a replacement.

Enter Justin Decker, a friend of Seabaugh's who works at Home Medical Supply in Cape Girardeau helping equip handicapped people. He met Seabaugh through work, setting him up with his current wheelchair, but Decker had also seen Seabaugh out on the dart circuit.

"I've sat there and watched them and I told him, 'Surely there's some way we could get you to play,'" Decker said.

Decker made an impulse purchase of a blowgun a couple years ago. He had no use for it.

The two met at the Home Medical Supply shop after work one day, and a few hours later, Seabaugh was blowing darts.

Seabaugh said he had trouble at first getting the darts up to the board, but after quite a bit of practice, he has become accurate.

The darts he uses have no wings, and they tend to bounce off the board because they're so light.

"He's got to have the right kind of air pressure so the darts can stick," Seyer said. "He wasn't throwing too well at first, but after he started practicing, he got better and he's been pretty much dead on. The first match of this session, he got his first hat trick."

That's three bull's-eyes on the same turn.

Steve Walton, Shawn's friend and dart teammate, said Seabaugh is well ahead of the curve. He said dart throwers are judged on a scale between 10 and 30, with 30 being the best. He said Seabaugh is at 17. The average for men is 19.

"I've known guys to throw three or four years and not reach 19," Seabaugh said. "And in just one session, he's up to 17."

Before Seabaugh could start playing on leagues, he had to be voted in by the rest of the participants. No one voted against letting him join the league, Seabaugh said.

Now they're paying the consequences.

"He's getting pretty good," Seyer said. "He won money down at Breakaways the other night, second place, I think. I know he beat me and my partner out."

bmiller@semissourian.com

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