PDC founder Dick Allix, who passed away on Wednesday, had spoken of his "immense pride" in the organisation's growth from a breakaway
Allix, along with Tommy Cox and John Markovic, led the sport's top players in breaking away from the BDO in the early 1990s to form the World Darts Council, which subsequently became the PDC.
Allix worked as chief executive until 2001, when he moved into the role of event director following the arrival of Barry Hearn as chairman.
In a feature to mark 25 years since the WDC's first event, Allix - who eventually retired in 2014 - discussed the growth of the PDC and his satisfaction in seeing how the sport had grown at a professional level.
"I've got immense pride," said Allix in '25 Years On - The Split'. "To me the whole ethos was that if you were good enough, you'll play and I think the PDC stands for that today.
"We only ever promised the players that we would get it back to where it was, but I think we more than surpassed that.
"The other turning point was in 2000 when we said that although we'd been clever to get it this far but I think we'd be really clever if we got Barry on board and the real big-hitters on board because they could take it to the next level.
"The next bridge to pushing forward was with Barry, and he did things that we would never have done on our own.
"People still say that they never envisaged that it would get this big, and it still seems to get bigger and bigger and that's staggering.
"Cliff Lazarenko always said that if it worked and we succeeded in where we were going, he wouldn't benefit – although those 14 players did later get given shares - but he was glad that he had done it so that future players would reap the rewards."
Allix was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame in 2010 alongside Cox, and had also made a notable contribution to the sport as a manager for players and commentators.
Click here to read 25 Years On - The Split
See Dick Allix discussing the PDC's formation below