70% + GAMES
Matt Fultz, Fort Wayne and Ken Koorsen, Fort Wayne — 71.31% June 4
Marci and Keith Meyer, Long Beach — 71.93% August 4
Kimberly and Bob Grant, Fort Wayne — 79.17% August 9
Margaret Lewis, South Bend and Lyla Lockhart, Notre Dame (299er game) — 70.24% August 13
Marian David, South Bend and Ren Singleton, South Bend — 72.92% August 15
John Teshima, Trail Creek and Chuck Schultz, LaPorte — 72.00% August 18
Phil Slatt, South Bend and Don Wertheimer, South Bend — 72.22% August 21
Wayne Carpenter, Chesterton and Laverne Niksch, Portage — 71.06% September 1
Steve Watson, Schererville and Lou Nimnicht, Crown Point — 70.00% September 2
Margaret and Bob Lewis, Granger (99er game) — 71.25% September 9
Barbara Graegin, Dyer & Ruth Westberg, Tinley Park, IL — 72.96% September 15
Elaine DeLaney, South Bend and Chris Habegger, Bristol —70.83% September 19
Elaine DeLaney, South Bend and Don Wertheimer, South Bend — 74.31% September 25
Joe Chin, Highland and John Teshima, Trail Creek — 75.89% September 27
RISING IN THE RANKINGS
Junior Masters: Ahnee Connor, Fort Wayne; Donna Freeland, St. John; Robert Gasser, Huntertown; Charlie Halberstadt, Westville; William Henry, Fort Wayne; Margaret Lewis, Granger; Donald Mohar, Chesterton; Margaret Mohar, Chesterton; Char Kleeman, Crown Point
Club Masters: Leonard Yarsh, Hobart; Gretchen Bonsib, Fort Wayne; Barbara Unger, Mishawaka
Sectional Masters: Joan Fahey, South Bend; Joe Frederick, Claypool; Arthur Friedel, Fort Wayne; Guy Morrical, Granger; Delphine Slater, Gary; Elnora Washington, Gary; James White, Warsaw
Regional Masters: Anna Urosevich, Munster; Richard Willson, South Bend; Judy Selund, Ogden Dunes; Sharon Snyder, Crown Point
NABC Master: Zafar Khan, Crown Point
Bronze Life Masters: Michael Mellinger, La Grange; Fred Osborn, Kokomo; Elizabeth Osborn, Kokomo
Gold Life Master: Chris Grande, Mishawaka
GOLD LIFE MASTER
Chris Grande
grew up in South Bend and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA
in accounting and later became a CPA. His parents emphasized education at an
early age so he and his siblings could take advantage of enormous academic
opportunities. During his years at Riley High School he was captain of the
cross-country team and led an outstanding group of middle and long distance
runners to a co-NIC championship.
The formula for his bridge development is very similar to other bridge players, namely experience, reading bridge material, observing good players, and asking questions. The best advice he received was to know fundamentals so well that basic bids and plays become second nature. He gained more experience in the local games, and Dave Gadd was particularly helpful in answering aspiring players’ questions. In fact, Dave’s answering machine stated: If you have a bridge question, press 1. Press 2 for everything else. One of Chris's favorite bridge authors is Mike Lawrence whose influence is reflected in his bridge style.
While working in Peru, Indiana, Chris played in Kokomo’s duplicate game twice a week. There he met his wife, Sara, and several years later they both obtained employment at the ACBL in Memphis — Chris in the accounting department and Sara in sales. A few years later, their roots led them back to South Bend.
One of Chris’ favorite aspects of bridge is the seemingly endless array of varying opinions offered on just about any topic. Chris enjoys the Master Solvers’ Club in the Bridge World and has participated in the solvers’ forum offered by the District 8 Advocate the last 4 years. He made the honor roll 2/3 of the time and was asked to be a guest panelist four times. He finished 2nd in 2011 and 4th in 2010 in the yearly contests.
He offers special thanks to Howard Piltch for including him in the Swiss team in Cincinnati. Winning a Flight A Swiss event made his Gold Life Master achievement more memorable. Also he thanks another exceptional player, Bud Hinckley, who is very thorough in answering bridge questions.
Due to Chris's work schedule, he is not able to play duplicate as often as he would like. Sara encouraged him to use Online Bridge as a substitute to some degree. A by-product of this is that it certainly sped up the process of becoming a Gold Life Master.
BRONZE LIFE MASTERS
Kokomo natives Fred
and Liz Osborn recently achieved Bronze Life Master status. The high school
sweethearts have been married for almost 60 years and have 3 children, 6
grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild — none of whom are bridge players. During
their time at IU-Bloomington two of their children were with them. Liz worked
for the university and Fred obtained his law degree in 1960. At IU they first
started playing "party" bridge and became and remain diehard IU fans.
Upon returning to Kokomo, Liz worked as a secretary in Fred's office for the last 32 years of his 53 years in private practice, which he closed in July 2013. Since that time Fred has been semi-retired, as he is working part-time in the Howard County Prosecutor's Office.
Fred and Liz started playing sporadically at the duplicate club in Kokomo in the early 1960s. After about a 15-year hiatus they joined the ACBL in late 1978 and became more serious, playing in sectionals, regionals and one national. Their favorite tournament venue is the Gatlinburg Regional where they achieved Life Master status in 1991 after winning 20+ gold points in an open pairs session. Although not playing in tournaments recently, they enjoy playing in three weekly Kokomo games with their many friendly, though competitive, fellow players.
Earl Landrum of Marion joins the ranks
of new Bronze Life Masters. He writes —
In 2004 I married my wife — and with my new life came many new adventures. You guessed it! My wife thought it would be great if we both learned to play bridge.
At 66 years of age I played my first game of bridge. We started playing social bridge at the local senior center and then at friends’ homes.
In 2006 we joined ACBL and started playing at our local club. In 2009 we went to our first tournament — in Gatlinburg. We were teamed with a great couple and won in the Knock-Outs. We have not missed that tournament since.
My wife, Sally, does most of the reading to better her bridge playing. She relays it to me — so I owe my success to her. We plan our vacations to coincide with our bridge, and we double our enjoyment doing both.
My advice to younger people — Play the game while you’re young. What I have learned — The better you become, the more you realize how little you know.
NONAGENARIANS
Jennie Alsobrooks (left)has been added to the growing list of nonagenarians in northwest Indiana. Most people expressed surprise that she could be 90 years old and look so young. Jennie shared with her fellow bridge players photographs of herself through the ages. We hope to see her at the bridge table for many years yet to come.
Faye Anderson (right) was feted on Monday, September 23rd. She's the second oldest club player in northwest Indiana — 95 years old and still a tough competitor at the bridge table! She has been an inspiration to us all — with a mind as sharp as a tack.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Bill
Searcy of South Bend is the newly-elected president of Unit 154. He speaks of
the regional just completed in Fort Wayne:
The Fort Wayne Fall Festival showed an increase of 81 tables in 2014 over 2013. 836 tables were in play for the week. The tournament committee worked very hard and comments were most favorable. The Fort Wayne members were the true heroes in how they all pulled together in the volunteer positions. No tournament can be successful without a cadre of volunteers. The northern Indiana unit members were playing multiple sessions and we thank them. The Indianapolis area players always support our tournament, and we appreciate their playing.
The next Unit 154 event is the Merrillville Sectional from Oct. 10-12. The South Bend Spring Sectional is from April 24-26, 2015. It is hoped that each and every one of you will make plans to attend these sectionals.
At the August 3rd annual meeting, new officers and area representatives were elected. A BIG "Thank You" is extended to all for agreeing to serve the players in our unit!
Members of Northern Indiana Unit 154 Board of Directors are:
President — Bill Searcy
Vice President — Gary Chaney
Corresponding Secretary/Treasurer — Marci Meyer
Recording Secretary — Mary Lou Clegg
Past President — Joe Shull
Area Representatives:
Area 1 — Kim Grant & Jim Kart
Area 2 — Julie Kupersmith
Area 3 — Tim Carl
Area 4 — Cappy Gagnon & John Hamilton
Area 5 — Keith Meyer
Area 6 — Steve Watson
NEW LIFE MASTERSThere were 10 new Life Masters and 2 Bronze Life Masters produced at the 2014 Fort Wayne Regional in September. 
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2014 FORT WAYNE FALL REGIONAL — reported by Gary Chaney
Director-in-charge Rick Beye and his crew kept the boards moving and the masterpoints flowing while the tournament hosts kept everyone’s sweet tooth well supplied. An improvement of 83 tables over the 2013 total demonstrated that bridge players from as far away as Honolulu know where the bridge fun is in September. Speakers Eric Rodwell (right), Brian Ross, Michael Huston, and Dallas Moore kept their audiences informed, educated and entertained. Tournament Chairman for 2015, Kimberly Grant, promises that next year will be even better with complimentary coffee and snacks, more people, more fun and more masterpoints. Be sure to reserve September 28 - October 4, 2015 as your time to enjoy Hoosier hospitality in Fort Wayne. Both the Hilton (260) 420-1100 and The Courtyard by Marriott (260) 490-3629 are offering our players early-bird incentives if reservations are made by November 30. See you then! Fort Wayne Regional committee was: Richard Ellis — Tournament Chairman Kimberly Grant — Financial Manager Gary Chaney — Tournament Coordinator Mary Lou Clegg and Joe Shull — Partnership Co-Chair Michael Clegg, Paul Knepper and Matt Fultz — Hospitality Matt Fultz — Set up Jim Kart — Caddies Judy Jenkins — Registration Sandy Craft — Newcomers Holly Skekloff — Local Marketing |
The 2014 Fort Wayne
Fall Regional is now part of the Northern Indiana Unit #154 historical record.
From September 15 through September 21 over five hundred people bid, mis-bid,
found the queen, lost the finesse, celebrated their victories and bemoaned their
fate at the Grand Wayne Center in downtown Fort Wayne IN. If you weren’t there,
you missed a smoothly-run, fun tournament. Unit 154 now has its own website — http://www.unit154.org/. There you can find a listing of all the clubs in the unit and the days and times of the games, a copy of the bylaws, a listing of the board of directors with contact information, a map of the unit areas, upcoming tournaments, District 8 information, club news, useful links, + more.
Thanks to Kimberly Grant from Fort Wayne, who is the webmaster and the designer of the program. She has done an excellent job of putting our unit in the spotlight.