NORTHWEST INDIANA FALL SECTIONAL The Northwest Indiana Fall Sectional held in Merrillville from October 16-18 was a great success. There were 141 tables in play with 160 players earning masterpoints. A multitude of thanks go to those who we couldn't do without: Row 1:  Alan Yngve — tournament chairman,  Dave Bigler — tournament co-chair, site coordinator, hospitality at Comfort Inn, team lunches,     contribution toward facility rental              Barbara Walczak — partnership chairman and flyer design Row 2:  Anna Urick and Charlie Abernethy — refreshments  Anne Murphy — refreshment assistant  Marci Meyer — caterer extraordinaire Row 3:  Martha Harris — flyer production  Joe Chin — recycling and funding  John Ginzel — budget and finance  Jim Lively — local representative Row 4:  Wayne Carpenter — lodging  Steve Watson — promotion  Richard Ellis — handmade clocks for 299er awards And — of course — "a cast of thousands":

IN MEMORIAM

Chuck Schultz of LaPorte passed away on October 28, 2015. He was very well recognized by his peers as one of Northern Indiana's leading duplicate players. He was polite, caring, and had a deep love for the game. How deep was his love? Well, he faithfully played every Monday in Michigan City, Tuesday in Portage, Thursday in LaPorte, and in Gary on Saturday. He worked on Wednesdays and Fridays — otherwise, he probably would have played on those days, too.

In late 1991 Chuck took over the reins as manager of the Maple City Duplicate Bridge Club in LaPorte. As manager of this club until his death, he provided countless hours of pleasure through the years for players from LaPorte and surrounding communities. He was loved as a partner at the bridge table, and no matter your skill level, he was gracious and courteous.

Chuck's mathematical skills were most likely the key to his excellent bridge skills, because in bridge you not only need knowledge of the game, you also need strong reasoning skills, Both Chuck's bidding and defense were superior. He could always make his bid or make the killer leads and set the hand when no one else could. Friends say that when he would arrive at their table, they would think, "Oh great — here are three bottom boards."

Chuck was a 42½ year member of ACBL, having joined in February of 1973. He achieved Life Master status in 1993. An extremely proud accomplishment for Chuck was when he became a Silver Life Master in November 2007. He had a total of 1727 masterpoints.

After managing the LaPorte club for 24 years, Chuck's friends finally convinced him to become an ACBL director in October 2014. Chuck also served on the Northern Indiana Unit 154 Board of Directors from 2007-2012 representing LaPorte County.

One of Chuck's dearest bridge friends and LaPorte's other dedicated duplicate bridge player, Libby Amos (age 100) passed away on Tuesday, the same day as Chuck. Libby played in Chuck's game until she was 99½. They are probably bridge partners in heaven right now, having just bid and make 7 no trump.

There are not enough words to describe the impact that Chuck had on duplicate bridge throughout the years. His friends will forever treasure the times they were able to spend with him at the bridge table.

   SBBC 10th Anniversary & Hallowe'en Celebration

 Even though the winners of the special game Saturday, October 31 celebrating South Bend’s 10th Anniversary were:
        N/S - Jim Feinstein and Sara Marcus
        E/W - Ruth Minish and Tom Hebron
 the real winners were all who came to the party to see the wonderful costumes our members created and modeled for us. 

 We had witches, a Stone Age lady, a clown, a princess and even Queen Elizabeth II showed up. Great fun! 

 The costume award went to our Stone Age Lady (looked like Wilma of the Flintstones), Rosemary Zonker! 
 

Another name added to South Bend’s SERVICE AWARD PLAQUE

At the South Bend annual Membership meeting in September, E. Tim Carl, President of South Bend Bridge Club in 2015, and the Board of Directors presented  this year’s Service Award to Tricia Killeen. Tricia , the Club Manager, was honored for her tireless work and many contributions to the functioning to the South Bend club.

 She is in charge of lots of paperwork: getting the sanctions for our games, scheduling  the games, getting the latest information about our members (knee, hip replacements and other maladies), preparing the masterpoint reports each month, as well as teaching classes, especially the beginners (quite a job in itself). We want her to know how much we appreciate her and all that she does.

A big THANK YOU to Tricia! 

Friends for Multiple Sclerosis

On November 9, a Charity Club game was held at the South Bend Club to contribute to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The members of the club were very generous and gave $500, of which $64 was from the club, and the rest consisted of donations from their members. Thank you for your generosity!

70% + GAMES

Carol Osgerby, Dyer & Don Valiska, Highland;  70.83% 9/14

Keith & Marci Meyer, Long Beach:  71.67% 9/15

Elaine DeLaney, South Bend & Chris Habegger, Bristol;  70.19%  9/25

Charlie Halberstadt, Westville & Alan Yngve, Chesterton;  81.58% 9/29

Carol Miller, Valparaiso & Barb Lawson, Valparaiso;  71.88% 9/30

Wayne Carpenter, Chesterton & Laverne Niksch, Portage;  70.64% 10/17

Barbara Walczak, Munster & Trudi McKamey, Ogden Dunes;  70.63%  10/20

John Aumiller, Fort Wayne & Al Patton, Wolcottville;  71%  10/27

Carol Watters, Columbia City & Judith Nelsen;  71.51%  10/29

Mary Kocevar, Hobart & Lenny Yarsh, Hobart;  75.83% 11/03

John & Tricia Killeen, Mishawaka;  70.83%  11/12

Al Simmons, Chicago IL & Ruth Westberg, Tinley Park IL; 71.26% 11/14

Don Ferguson & Rose Ferguson, Fort Wayne;  70.83%  11/17

Jim Davis, Kokomo & Bob Hawley, Peru;  75.25%  11/17

RISING IN THE RANKS:

Junior Master

Dr. David Barkmeier, Plymouth; Carol Baker Bulger, Michigan City; Mariana Bruce, Michigan City; James Carson, Valparaiso;

Marcia Carson, Valparaiso; Dennis Flennery, Fort Wayne; Anne Heger, Fort Wayne; Carolyn Owens, Dyer; Patricia Short, South Bend

Club Master

Lee Chance, Merrillville; Janet Jones, Porter; Knoefel Jones, Porter; Patrick Oconnell, Warsaw; Allen Pinkham, Fort Wayne; Mary Vera, Hammond

Sectional Master     

Charlie Halberstadt, Westville; Johnny Sue Herriman, Marion; Margaret Lewis, Granger; Jerry Newell, Dyer; Donna Penn, Portage;

Doris Shafer, Granger; Owen Sherwin, Fort Wayne; Helen Thiros, Schererville; Mary Wisniewski, South Bend

Regional Master

Emma Carnes, Kokomo; Alan Filler, Highland; Wayne Hiser, Hobart; Thomas Poppas, Kokomo; Carol Watters, Columbia City 

LIFE MASTER   Rev. James Voelz, Fort Wayne

While I was in college, I was dragged into bridge by my boyhood friend and parents, who needed a fourth. I soon became the fanatic, reading every bridge book I could get my hands on (Terence Reese’s are the nonpareil). Fairly early one, my friend and I tried duplicate, with very mixed results. We bid poorly on the very first hand, missed a laydown game, and our opponents literally laughed at us. A veteran player at the event apologized for such boorish behavior several tables later and encouraged me, but my friend never went to a club again.

A few years later, in the early ‘70s, I did my graduate work at Cambridge in England, and I played incessantly there (hence my love for Acol), even representing Cambridge at an all-England university tournament. In fact, I played so much that I had finally to go “cold turkey” and avoid playing at all, or I literally would not have finished my dissertation.

Back in the US, I was afraid of overdoing it again, so I did not play regularly, but then, about 10 years ago I got back into this great game and now have been playing once or twice a week at clubs. In St. Louis, I had two regular partners, Aaron Krieser, who achieved Life Master with me at the recent Fort Wayne Fall Regional, and Sheldon Margulis (unfortunately terminally ill), and I look forward to playing regularly in the Fort Wayne area. Thanks for your great hospitality!

LIFE & BRONZE LIFE MASTER   Patricia Neuzerling, Venice, FL  

SILVER LIFE MASTER    Jo Ellen Praklet, South Bend                   

SILVER LIFE MASTER  Trudi McKamey

Trudi McKamey from Ogden Dunes has become a Silver Life Master! Here's how Trudi tells it:

"When I signed up for my first lesson in 2000, I thought it would be fun to learn bridge, and that I’d have it mastered quickly. Boy, was I wrong! When I bought Goren’s book, and it weighed two pounds, I realized that bridge was more than just any old card game!

Besides playing duplicate I also belong to a traveling bridge club, and I have many happy memories of our trips together. Sharon Massey, Barb Stroud and I also organize a Bridge-O-Rama game. We have a ladies' and couples' division. Participants get a schedule and games are played at people’s houses. This, the more social aspect of bridge, has brought many new players into our duplicate games.

I thank my sweet partners who helped me along the way and were patient with me. I also thank our directors — they make it all possible. Making Silver Life Master is great, but the learning is never over — that’s why I can hardly wait for the next round."

All of Trudi's partners are in unanimous agreement that she is such an upbeat delightful person — that she makes the game fun for all. Here are some of their comments —

"Trudi is an excellent bridge player with a friendly and charming smile all the time. She is so supportive of her partner — win or lose, you always have a lot of fun playing with her."

"I just started to play with Trudi this year. She has superb table presence and bridge 'smarts'".

"Trudi's love for the game of bridge has made her tenacious in her quest to become the best player that she can be. Her dedication to the game and her willingness to learn have made this great accomplishment possible."

"Her achievement is proof of her dedication and drive for excellence at the bridge table. Her success also comes from her desire for accurate bidding and concentration for best play of each hand. Trudi continues to enjoy playing with several partners and traveling to many top-level tournaments."

GOLD LIFE MASTER   Patty Fred, South Bend

GOLD LIFE MASTER   Cappy Gagnon, Notre Dame

Russell T. Gagnon, Jr. was born March 10, 1944, on the Army base at Fort Bragg, NC. His father was an Artillery Captain, hence the early nickname of “Little Captain” which became “Cappy”. He grew up in Gloucester, Massachusetts (the country’s oldest seaport), graduating from GHS in 1962.

After graduating from Notre Dame (1966) with a degree in Communication Arts, Cappy pursued a varied career path* until his dream job, for the final 16 years of his work life, in charge of Crowd Management & Security for Notre Dame. *In addition to accompanying Cher on her 1990 World Tour and Neil Diamond on his 1985 California Tour, he enjoyed many special assignments with Dolly Parton, his personal favorite.

Cappy became a baseball fan in childhood when he started collecting baseball cards. He wrote NOTRE DAME BASEBALL GREATS and published 50+ articles in various baseball journals and encyclopedias. He is working on a book about early (1887-1917) Notre Dame Football.

Cappy first observed bridge when it was his father’s turn to host a weekly bridge game. He was in awe of the larger than life men playing such a complicated game. As a freshman at Notre Dame, he was taught a few bridge basics. After a semester of nightly games, he decided that graduating from Notre Dame should be a higher priority than finding the trump queen. During the next 40 years he read bridge columns while playing no more than 15-20 social bridge games. Long-time friend Bruce BonDurant got him playing duplicate in late 2001. Cap joined the ACBL in April of 2004. His bridge thinking improved thanks to Elaine Delaney’s beginner classes and John Killeen’s role as his “guru”.

For his ascendancy up the master point ladder, Cappy thanks Ruth Minish, Ren Singleton, Jo Ann Steigmeyer, Joan Tobler, Tom Rossow, John Bodish, Bud Hinckley, and Lena Howard. He enjoys playing with LaDora Sloan, Vance Senecal, and Mike Young, and hopes he can help them become Life Masters, as others have helped him.

Cappy has two daughters and six grandkids, one of whom (Connor) has been a frequent caddy at our Sectionals.

GOLD LIFE MASTER   Jo Ann Steigmeyer

And they said it couldn’t be done!  Well, Jo Ann did it and in her Birthday month, too. She was so glad that she didn’t have to play on December 31st to get that last .20 to achieve her Gold Life Master status.

You all know Jo Ann as the editor of the SBBC monthly newsletter who  prepares the calendars, hostess and directors’ schedules, sign-up sheets and anything else that takes plugging away at the computer. She is also the liaison for the website. But, she and  her sister, Chris Barker (another bridge player),  enjoy other activities, too  such as attending the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball games (they are season ticket holders), the opera, and many of the local Broadway musical presentations. Jo Ann loves to revisit old movies (TCM is a favorite) and has a collection of over 400 tapes and DVDS.

Jo Ann first learned bridge in her dorm room at Kalamazoo College where her school mates said “We can teach you bridge in no time. Aces are 4, kings are 3 ..... and you need 13 points to open!”  That was the beginning of a love affair with the game that has lasted over 40 years. Once she experienced “duplicate” bridge in Detroit, there was no going back to rubber bridge. After being away from her hometown of South Bend for over 43 years, she was glad to come back to find a challenging club in which to play and where she found  partnerships and friendships that have lasted the 14 years since she has been back.

There are many partners to thank. Top on the list is Joan Tobler, not only a partner, but a fellow teacher and friend. Of course, all of her partners have been special. To mention a few: Barb Myers, Ren Singleton, Paul Scherer, Chris Barker, Ruth Minish, Cappy Gagnon, and Rosemary Zonker. She also remembers those who are no longer with us - Dean Duncan, Jeanne Stilp, and Marge Janovsky.

During the past month of November in which Thanksgiving was celebrated, Jo Ann had much to be thankful for: A special sister, Chris; a lovely daughter, Jamie, and two outstanding grandsons, Colten and Trevor (both in college). She knows bridge is just a game, but what fun she has had playing it, learning it and teaching it - all with enthusiasm. Congratulations Jo Ann!