Top 52

[Steve Willner]

The ACBL list of "most influential" finished with the top 13 in the
April _Bulletin_. For those who missed it, I list the names below. It
looks to me as though the criterion was "most influential in the ACBL,"
not worldwide. In some cases, I've added the stated reasons for the
selection. Names are as printed unless I've put in typos.

1. Charles Goren
2. Ely Culbertson
3. William McKenney (bridge administration, invented masterpoints)
4. Edgar Kaplan
5. Bobby Wolff (bridge administration, player, columnist)
6. Fred Gitelman (software, BBO)
7. Eddie Kantar (writer, player)
8. Albert H. Morehead (wrote much "Culbertson" material, editor, writer,
administrator)
9. Alfred Sheinwold
10. Waldemar von Zedtwitz (player, administrator)
11. Nathan B. Spingold (administrator)
12. Alvin Roth (bidding methods, player)
13. "Bracketed KO inventor(s)"

My comments: I think 6 gives short shrift to Matt Clegg, who created the
first online bridge game (okbridge) that actually worked. Maybe I'm
over-influenced by the technical as opposed to the marketing side.
However, there was a very high-profile failure (plenty of marketing but
no technical success despite vast expenditure) at the same time, so the
technical side wasn't trivial.

I'm astonished that the bracketed KO inventor isn't known from ACBL BoD
minutes. Maybe it was just an idea "in the air" that a lot of people
contributed to. I'm also not sure I'd rank it as high as number 13,
given how recent the idea is relative to 75 years of ACBL history.
Bracketed teams would be a lot less popular if they awarded masterpoints
on a sensible scale instead of the actual inflated one.

--
Help keep our newsgroup healthy; please don't feed the trolls.
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 swil...@nhcc.net
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

[Mark Brader]

Steve Willner:

> The ACBL list of "most influential" finished with the top 13 in the
> April _Bulletin_. For those who missed it, I list the names below. It
> looks to me as though the criterion was "most influential in the ACBL,"
> not worldwide.

What they said in January was "Leading up to the celebration of the
ACBL's diamond anniversary at the Spring 2012 NABC in Memphis, the
Bridge Bulletin staff has attempted to come up with a list of the
52 most influential personalities in *the organization's* history.
Influence, of course, is not *limited to* membership in the ACBL
or residence in North America." My emphasis added -- it looks to
me as though they were being deliberately unclear. Well, either
that or accidentally unclear.

> 1. Charles Goren
> 2. Ely Culbertson
> 3. William McKenney (bridge administration, invented masterpoints)
> 4. Edgar Kaplan
> 5. Bobby Wolff (bridge administration, player, columnist)
> 6. Fred Gitelman (software, BBO)
> 7. Eddie Kantar (writer, player)
> 8. Albert H. Morehead (wrote much "Culbertson" material, editor,
> writer, administrator)
> 9. Alfred Sheinwold
> 10. Waldemar von Zedtwitz (player, administrator)
> 11. Nathan B. Spingold (administrator)
> 12. Alvin Roth (bidding methods, player)
> 13. "Bracketed KO inventor(s)"

Here are the others, from the January-February issues:

14. Oswald Jacoby
15. Barry Crane
16. Howard Schenken
17. The Italian blue team
18. Helen Sobel Smith
19. Bob Hamman
20. Mike Lawrence
21. John Terence Reese
22. Marty Bergen
23. Larry Cohen
24. Jaime Ortiz-Pati�o and Jos� Damiani (administrators)
25. Dorothy Truscott
26. George Rap�e (inventor of Stayman)

27. Marc Low and Paul Heitner (advocated Swiss team events)
28. Richard Walsh
29. Jim Lopushinsky (developed ACBLscore)
30. Eric Murray
31. Richard Frey
32. Albert Morehead
33. Alan Truscott
34. Josephine Culbertson
35. Zia Mahmood
36. Eric Rodwell
37. Jeff Meckstroth
38. Victor Mollo
39. Eric Kokish

40. Aileen Osofky and Barbara Seagram (advocated good behavior)
41. Al Sobel
42. Alphonse Moyse Jr.
43. Audrey Grant (teacher)
44. Kathie Wei-Sender
45. Rose Meltzer
46. Grant Baze
47. Tom Stoddard (founded Pacific Bridge League)
48. S.J. "Skid" Simon
49. Lee Hazen
50. Norman Squire
51. Gosta Nordenson and Eric Jannersten (bidding box inventor and maker)
52. Louis Watson

In the May issue they admitted that #8 and #32 were actually the same
person and turned one of his slots -- they didn't say which one --
over to Harold Vanderbilt, the inventor of contract bridge. With this
change, and counting the Blue Team as 6 people and the Bracketed KO
inventor as 1, the total membership of the Top 52 list now comes to 61.

I used to play at Kate Buckman's bridge club when Barbara Seagram and
her husband Alex Kornel owned it, and I used to be a co-worker of
Paul Heitner.
--
Mark Brader | "And I won't like [this usage] any better if you
Toronto | produce examples from Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson ...
m...@vex.net | Or, indeed, myself." --Mike Lyle

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Paul Hightower]

"Steve Willner" <swil...@nhcc.net> wrote in message
news:jp6u6n$m91$1...@dont-email.me...

> The ACBL list of "most influential" finished with the top 13 in the April

> _Bulletin_. > 13. "Bracketed KO inventor(s)"
>
<snips>

> I'm astonished that the bracketed KO inventor isn't known from ACBL BoD
> minutes. Maybe it was just an idea "in the air" that a lot of people
> contributed to. I'm also not sure I'd rank it as high as number 13, given
> how recent the idea is relative to 75 years of ACBL history. Bracketed
> teams would be a lot less popular if they awarded masterpoints on a
> sensible scale instead of the actual inflated one.

Agreed. The comments were that BKO's were popular because of the comfort of
playing against players at your level. Possibily, but I think the inflated
awards are the main explanation. Personally I despise the format -- how
boring not to compete against the top players. The last tournament I
traveled to, in Lousiville, amounted to playing several teams from
Lexington. I'd just as soon do that at the club: more fun, a nicer playing
area, and a lot less costly.

[Barry Margolin]

In article <jp6u6n$m91$1...@dont-email.me>,

Fred wasn't honored just for BBO. He also created quite a bit of bridge
educational software before BBO.

--
Barry Margolin
Arlington, MA

[Lone Locust of the Apocalypse]

m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:
> 26. George Rapee (inventor of Stayman)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law

[Dave Flower]

> 24. Jaime Ortiz-Pati�o and Jos� Damiani (administrators)
> 25. Dorothy Truscott
> 26. George Rap�e (inventor of Stayman)

So the inventer of bidding boxes gets included, and the inventer of Contract Bridge (Harold S. Vanderbilt) does not.

What happened to Easely Blackwood ?

Also a number of American non-entities are included, while the likes of Paul Lukacs and Tim Seres are not

Dave Flower

[sbt]

In article <9f182a56-ff99-42ae...@googlegroups.com>,

Dave Flower <DavJF...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> So the inventer of bidding boxes gets included, and the inventer of Contract
> Bridge (Harold S. Vanderbilt) does not.
>
> What happened to Easely Blackwood ?
>
> Also a number of American non-entities are included, while the likes of Paul
> Lukacs and Tim Seres are not
>

Vanderbilt and Blackwood should have been as they were influential in
the ACBL's history.

Remember, the professed and published rationale behind the list was to
celebrate those influential in the organization's (i.e. ACBL's)
history, not necessarily bridge in general.

For that same reason, Lukacs, Seres, and people such as Nico Gardner,
Assumpcao, Chagas, and Albarran aren't (and shouldn't be) listed. I
could even quibble about the inclusion of the Blue Team, but their
dominance was the driving force behind Ira Corn's formation and
sponsorship of the Dallas Aces, and leading to the rampant sponsorship
of teams prevalent today (as opposed to the scattered professional
relationships that preceded it).

And if you're going to ask "where is?" questions, where is George
Rosenkranz? Here's an ACBL member with numerous national team titles
and the inventor of the Romex bidding system, with a few conventions
that have seen fairly wide use: Rosenkranz doubles and Mexican 2D among
them. Or Mike Smolen, inventor of Smolen Transfers, one of the more
widely played conventions today? The list can go on and a number of
choices (especially in the lower portion of the hierarchy are going to
be subjective and open to argument.

--
Dennis Cohen

[Barry Margolin]

In article <200520121045250587%dogb...@chaseabone.com.invalid>,

sbt <dogb...@chaseabone.com.invalid> wrote:

> And if you're going to ask "where is?" questions, where is George
> Rosenkranz? Here's an ACBL member with numerous national team titles
> and the inventor of the Romex bidding system, with a few conventions
> that have seen fairly wide use: Rosenkranz doubles and Mexican 2D among
> them. Or Mike Smolen, inventor of Smolen Transfers, one of the more
> widely played conventions today? The list can go on and a number of
> choices (especially in the lower portion of the hierarchy are going to
> be subjective and open to argument.

Yeah, you could practically fill the entire list with people whose names
are on popular conventions. They had to diversify the list to find
people with different kinds of influence. Some were administrators,
some were authors and teachers, some invented things, some were great
players, etc.

[Mark Brader]

Mark Brader:

> > In the May issue they admitted that #8 and #32 were actually the same
> > person and turned one of his slots -- they didn't say which one --
> > over to Harold Vanderbilt, the inventor of contract bridge.

Dave Flower:

> So the inventer of bidding boxes gets included, and the inventer of
> Contract Bridge (Harold S. Vanderbilt) does not.

See above.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "One thing that surprises you about this business
m...@vex.net | is the surprises." -- Tim Baker

[dak...@aol.com]

Do you think the article was published to get some
jabber from bridge players?
Entertainment to awake their minds - that succeeded.

[KWSchneider]

On May 19, 6:12 am, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

> I used to play at Kate Buckman's bridge club when Barbara Seagram and
> her husband Alex Kornel owned it, and I used to be a co-worker of
> Paul Heitner.

This was on Lawrence, right? I played there as well in a teams league
when I was just starting out in 1978-1983 [I thought Barbara owned it
then?]. Played against "the whale" on multiple occasions, but
primarily at Regionals and Nationals at the Royal York.

Back then, I still remember sitting down opposite Kokish and Nagy in
Toronto with at least 15 kibitzers and wondering "is there any other
sport where I get to play the world's best as a novice?" Needless to
say, I was lucky not to renege...

Perhaps we played against each other back then?

Kurt

[derek]

On May 25, 11:30 am, KWSchneider <questionofbala...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On May 19, 6:12 am, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
>
> > I used to play at Kate Buckman's bridge club when Barbara Seagram and
> > her husband Alex Kornel owned it, and I used to be a co-worker of
> > Paul Heitner.
>
> This was on Lawrence, right? I played there as well in a teams league

I thought it was Mount Pleasant, but certainly in the vicinity of
Lawrence.

> when I was just starting out in 1978-1983 [I thought Barbara owned it
> then?]. Played against "the whale" on multiple occasions, but
> primarily at Regionals and Nationals at the Royal York.

I played there a couple of times a little later (86, I think - Seagram
still owned it). I didn't seriously learn to play bridge for another
25 years, though.

[Mark Brader]

Mark Brader:

>>> I used to play at Kate Buckman's bridge club when Barbara Seagram and
>>> her husband Alex Kornel owned it, and I used to be a co-worker of
>>> Paul Heitner.

K.W. Schneider:

>> This was on Lawrence, right? I played there as well in a teams league

"Derek":

> I thought it was Mount Pleasant, but certainly in the vicinity of
> Lawrence.

For its last 20+ years the club was in the basement of the Roehampton
Hotel (now the Best Western Roehampton), on Mt. Pleasant just north
of Eglinton. However, that was the club's third location and I never
played at the earlier ones. I vaguely remember that one of them was
on Yonge and was nearer Lawrence.

>> when I was just starting out in 1978-1983 [I thought Barbara owned it
>> then?].

My first game of duplicate was at a tournament in 1983, then I didn't
play again until the same tournament the following year, and then
started at Kate Buckman's after that. So Kurt and I have played at
Kate's at different locations.

I don't know when Alex and Barbara acquired the club. It's possible
that they managed it for Kate before they bought it. From what I can
google up, it appears to have been late 2006 when they in turn sold
it to Eric Platt and his wife. I was somewhat astonished at that;
it always seemed to me that of all the directors who'd run games
I was playing in, he was the one who most seemed to make it clear
that this was work he *disliked* doing.

The club closed about a year later.
--
Mark Brader | (Hatpin's Razor:) "Never attribute to stupidity
Toronto | that which can be adequately explained
m...@vex.net | by marketing" --John Hopkin