The Houston area steel point darts league has been through a variety of name changes since the first league started up in 1974.
1974- HAD. Originally the Houston Area Darters, an unofficial name that was never legally registered. The group started as an informal league with a couple of dozen players meeting at 5 local darts bars. Most of the players were from the UK or had lived in countries with a UK presence.
Late 70’s – HADA. This was changed to Houston Area Darting Association, for no obviously good reason. Possibly to have a registered business name to open a bank account.
1980 – HDA. The group decided to put on a major darts tournament, the first Houston Open.
Concern over legal liability and need to look more official for corporate sponsors led the group to incorporate & regularize bookkeeping. Part of the incorporation process was clearing all previous legal & financial liabilities, as well as changing the organization’s legal registered name.
The new name was Houston Darts Association, Inc. and this remained the name for about 30 years.
As part of the legal change, the logo was redesigned. Note the two Wired Out monthly newsletter covers, just 6 months apart.
The top logo was the original, in use since around 1974. It was associated with the organization’s original name, Houston Area Darts Association. However, as time went by, we all generally just called it the Houston Darts Association.
HCDA – Harris County Darts Assn, Inc.
This name change came about due to a league protest dispute. A team captain who was unhappy with a game protest ruling happened to be a lawyer. He found that the HDA had not paid the previous year’s corporation fee, which let the name registration lapse. He then registered the name for himself and for many years refused to let the HDA have it back.
The HDA was forced to register a different legal name. As there were league divisions in areas outside of Houston, the county reference was used in the new name
HDA – Houston Darts Assn, Inc.
Eventually, the organization was able to recover the Houston Darts Association, Inc. and used it for another 10 years or so.
SCDA – Space City Darts Association. CURRENT NAME
Around 2022, the HDA name was once again lost the name, for the same reason as before.. not paying the Texas corporate registration fee. So, the name had to be changed again.
The name is derived from the well known nickname of Houston as “Space City”. That moniker comes from the presence of NASA in the area.
