Bridge has always gone hand-in-hand with a few classic publications like the New York Times. This makes it worth a dig through the archives on occasion to see what the bridge world was like a few decades back.
If you’re a fan of the New York Times in general, the NY Times Bridge Book is a worthy read – and the New York Times Book of the Dead contains more than 10, 000 obituaries for the weirder kind of binge-reading.
From the truly historical to the really bizarre, here’s what came up during a look into the archives.
Church Bars Bridge Money
One of the oldest articles that came up during the search, this article dates back to December 1908.
Bridge has always been a great way to raise funds, but when a church needed funds for the building of an extra aisle, they told bridge players to hold off on donating any money that might have come from a card game.
The logic behind this would have been the unfortunate historical association of cards with devilry, which we’ve (mostly) gotten rid of today.
Bridge Hall of Fame is Established
This piece from 1964 takes us back to the founding of the ACBL Hall of Fame by members of Bridge World Magazine. It’s a nice historical throwback – and as most people know, the ACBL Hall of Fame is still in continuation today. A list of Hall of Fame members can be found at the ACBL website. (Source: ACBL)
Master Point Worth $100 Is No Bargain to Unsungs
If you’ve ever wondered what the average master point was worth, here’s your answer – at least for the 60s.
This article by Albert H. Morehead says there’s been a “fair estimation” that leading tournament players of the time had to spend approximately $10 for each master point in entry fees and transport costs.
Charity Pairs is Scheduled as Spring’s Biggest Game
This piece announces the ACBL Spring Nationals starting in Fresno in 1980. Again, this is an interesting little piece of bridge history to have discovered – and some members here might even have been at the event!
New Order Takes Over Today At Contract League Offices
The “New Order” the headline is referring to points towards Richard Goldberg’s appointment as executive secretary of the ACBL back in March 1971. Of course, this one was written by Alan Truscott, regular NY Times bridge writer.
Clever Technique is Used by New Life Master
This November 1964 piece runs us through a game of rubber bridge played by Victor Shen, who had just then achieved the rank of Life Master.
A later article, also from the NY Times, tells us of his death in 1973, ten days before the publication of the piece and nine years after the publication of the first. (Source: NY Times)
The second piece sees Alan Truscott refer to Shen as “New York’s quietest and most unassuming bridge expert” before leading into a description of a game played at a Deauville tournament by the Shen-and-Shen team.