Greater St. Louis Bridge News

News from Greater St. Louis Unit 143

Editor:  Mary Dolan, 10806 Charlton Way, St. Louis, 63146     dolanmary@sbcglobal.net 
 

“Bridge presents all the challenges we know of. It is a human game, yet it is an intellectual game.
If I sit down to play, I am likely to run into some sort of situation that I've never seen before.”

-- Edgar Kaplan

299er Spring Tournament

If you have less than 300 masterpoints, celebrate spring by attending Unit 143’s 299er Tournament in St. Louis on Saturday March 25 and Sunday March 26. Click here for flyer with location, event, and registration details.

Milt Zlatic Meritorious Service Award

At the Winter Sectional Sunday Swiss event, Unit 143 presented Milt Zlatic with its Meritorious Service Award. Following is an abbreviated version of Unit President Becky Hubert’s tribute to Milt.

Today is a very special day for Unit 143. We are recognizing an individual who has selflessly and I might add very quietly served our Unit for more than 30 years. Milt Zlatic served on the board in the 70s, the start of decades of giving. Some of you may not know of his generous gifts to the unit and district because Milt is a quiet giver, shunning any outward recognition.

First let’s talk about his technology gifts he has given the Unit. Milt is known as the computer guy that can fix all computer related problems. He was a member of the original design team that created our website and was specifically responsible for setting up the interactive map of clubs as well as the online calendar. A few years ago he revamped our website by adding member lookup, 70% games, ACBL news feed, news ticker, member stats and the site search. More recently he also conducted the study to map out where our membership lives and posted the map representing our membership. Milt is the quietly steadily beating heart of our Unit website.

In addition, Milt Zlatic has served as the Unit Recorder since 1995 and shortly after that has been the District Recorder. The recorder has many duties but generally Recorders receive, investigate and respond to players’ reports. Most often these reports concern matters of player conduct and ethics. The ACBL requests that the Recorder be someone with (and I quote) acknowledged bridge ability and be a person with impeccable ethics, integrity, honesty and demeanor. This describes Milt Zlatic to a tee. He quietly puts himself on the line in controversial situations only to protect the integrity of the game we all love.

How fortunate Unit 143 is to have such a man willing to give his time, many skills and judgment 24/7 for more than three decades.
 

Congratulations to Unit 143 Advancers

Life Master: Anne Albrecht, Delaine Boyd, Irwin Drewel, Carol Rentz

Bronze Life Master: Steve Hakanson, John Kraemer, Fred Sandegren

Silver Life Master: Beverly Baumgartner

Gold Life Master: John Steiner

Ruby Life Master: Randy Baker

Sapphire Life Master: Carol Hamilton

Emerald Life Master: Kenny Bland

New Home for St. Louis Bridge Club

In December the St. Louis Bridge Center renovated and moved to its new location at 1270 N. Price Rd, increasing its size by more than a third, and providing well over 200 parking spaces.

In addition to the successful relocation, 2016 was another banner year for the club: Table counts increased by 3% over 2015 (when it ranked 10th nationally among ACBL large clubs), more than $42,000 was raised as part of The Longest Day fundraiser, Barbara Seagram gave a seminar, duplicate bridge was hosted as an event in the St. Louis Senior Olympics, and the robust teaching program continued.

All these accomplishments are a testament to the efforts of its members and the strong community they have become in the four years since its founding.

St. Louis Winter Sectional

Adverse weather conditions made it necessary to cancel two days of Winter Sectional events. However, the traditional Sunday Swiss was held and greatly appreciated by bridge players who had been house-bound for several days. Click here for results.
 

70+ Games