STARS of the PDC have paid tribute to Jocky Wilson, who passed away on Saturday.
The two-time World Champion, who had turned 62 last week, had been suffering from the lung disorder chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
A minute's applause was held in his memory ahead of Sunday's Speedy Services UK Open Qualifier in Barnsley, with 194 players joining officials in paying tribute to the Scottish legend.
The competitors in Barnsley include some who played against and with Wilson before his retirement in 1996.
Phil Taylor, the 15-time World Champion, said: "It's very sad news.
"When I first started Jocky was there at the top of the sport - you wanted to beat Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson and Jocky Wilson, they were the stars.
"I've got loads of memories of him and he was such a good laugh to be with. People talk about the great characters in darts and he's one of the greatest - if not the main one when he was playing."
Taylor added: "It's common knowledge that Jocky had false teeth, and I remember playing snooker with him and he asked someone to clean the white ball and took his teeth out to mark the ball!
"He'd always be doing things like that, and he'd have a great little grin on his face. His smile will stay with me forever."
Holland's five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld said: "It's a sad day for darts and I feel really sad too because he was only 62 and he should have had many more years.
"When I first started playing darts in 1984 the top players were him, Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, Cliff Lazarenko and John Lowe, and he always had the crowd on his side.
"It was a shame he wasn't involved in darts any more because he was such a hero. You could always laugh with him and he was a nice guy.
"I remember playing him in my first Europe Cup event in Great Yarmouth in 1988. I beat Bob Anderson and then had to play Jocky.
"Bob was World Champion at the time so it was a special thing in Holland, and the Scotland team manager saw that I was playing Jocky next, and he got him fired up and he beat me 4-0! He was one of the greatest and it was a real pleasure to watch him. He was a legend.
"I treasure the moments I had with him. A lot of players now had never met him, and I had the chance to meet him and play him which is special."
Two-time World Champion Dennis Priestley said: "He was such a character, a lovely man.
"You never knew what to expect from him and we had many good times. I played in some Pairs competitions in America with Jocky, and remember winning one with him in Las Vegas, which was brilliant.
"If you didn't catch him in the right frame of mind he could be a little bit fiery and temperamental, but he was a very shy and private man away from darts too.
"He was only a few months older than me and it's a sad loss. He's another great player who we've lost young, along with Leighton Rees and Alan Evans."
The current leading Scottish player Gary Anderson, the world number four and McCoy's Premier League champion, said: "He was a great battler and he did Scotland proud in a sport that we love.
"He's one of the biggest legends in darts. He had that famous action - the Jocky Wilson 'snatch' and they say the worse he snatched the better he got!
"I never met Jocky because he retired just before I started playing darts but watched a lot of him with my Dad when I was growing up.
"He won two World Championship titles and it would be nice if I can follow that on in the future and take the World Championship back to Scotland for him."
PDC Tournament Director Tommy Cox had managed Jocky Wilson from 1988-1996, and said: "It's a very sad day because Jocky was loved by so many people for the great character he was.
"Jocky transcended the whole spectrum of life in the UK - in the 1980s there wasn't a person in the country who didn't know who Jocky Wilson was and, even though he hasn't thrown a dart since 1996, it's probably almost still the same now.
"I once refereed a game in Qatar between Jocky and Sir Geoffrey Howe, who was the Foreign Minister at the time, when he had been invited to a Trade Exhibition. We were with the Bootleg Beatles, Alan Ball and Tommy Gemmell, which was some company to be keeping!
"He will be fondly remembered."
Click here to read our Jocky Wilson Obituary