Would you like to serve on the Unit Board?

If you live in one of the counties below, this is the year to elect your representative to the Unit 208 Board of Directors:

Area #1:  Peoria & Tazewell Counties. (Incumbent: Camilla Rabjohns)

Area #4:  Cass, Mason, Menard, Morgan, Sangamon & Scott Counties. (Incumbent: Liz Zalar)

Area #7:  Champaign, Ford, Piatt & Vermilion Counties. (Incumbent: Dennis Fitton)

The Area Representative meets with the Board three times a year at our Unit sectionals.

Anyone from these areas who would like to run for a seat on the Board should send name and ACBL number to Unit Secretary Carole Sholes by May 1. Elections will be held in May and June. You can contact Carole by email (csholes@aol.com ).

 ♣   Central Illinois Top 100   ♣

Here are the top masterpoint holders in Central Illinois Unit 208 and their career point totals as of January 6, 2012. The first 16 players on the list are ranked in the top 100 of all players in District 8 (see the District Top 100 list in this issue).
  

1    2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Colby Vernay, Lacon -- 18,366.79 Gary Kessler, Springfield -- 11,920.26 Chris Benson, LeRoy -- 10,669.20 Karen Walker, Champaign -- 8024.18 Mark Kessler, Springfield -- 7399.65 Dan Requard, Springfield -- 7051.01 James Melville, Springfield -- 6558.60 Mike Halvorsen, Champaign -- 5022.06 Larry Rabideau, Saint Anne -- 4677.16 Dick Kemmerer, Peoria -- 4404.49 Robert Hayes, Morris -- 4090.10 Robert Butz, Kankakee -- 4062.84 Phyllis Rahn, Dunlap -- 3934.29 Nate Ward, Champaign -- 3857.18 John Seng, Champaign -- 3617.33 James Carbaugh, Metamora -- 3516.18 Betty Capodice, Bloomington -- 3379.18 Christine Carroll, Champaign -- 3316.32            Carl Brueckner, Champaign -- 3297.67 Ron Sholes, Springfield -- 3138.82 Jacqueline Tatting, Princeton -- 3123.16 Henry Schroder, Quincy -- 3017.02 Leonard Kaufman, Peoria -- 2798.35 Richard Gibons, Princeton -- 2795.65 Stephen Babin, Normal -- 2711.43 Deborah Avery, Champaign -- 2678.62 Charles Sheaff, Jacksonville -- 2640.23 Ned Horton, Champaign -- 2428.13 Georgia Heth, Morton -- 2420.72 Elizabeth Zalar, Springfield -- 2392.53 Phyllis Collins, Springfield -- 2342.31 Pat Carrington, Champaign -- 2302.79 Ronald Simmons, Peru -- 2265.98 Charles Zalar, Springfield -- 2212.03 Paul Lindauer, Varna -- 2205.44 Leah Newell, Springfield -- 2197.01 Betty Primm, Athens -- 2159.31 Carol Umbach, Havana -- 2154.33 Robert Sievers, Champaign -- 2136.33 Raymond Russ, Henry -- 2104.75 Chloe Trautman, Champaign -- 2099.58 Martha Leary, Urbana -- 2099.01 Marciann O'Brien, Decatur -- 2085.59 Doris Foltz, Springfield -- 2074.17 Carole Sholes, Springfield -- 2036.22 Joanne Glazebrook, Peoria -- 2017.15 John Kessinger, Decatur -- 1977.78 Kris Maillacheruvu, Peoria -- 1943.78 David Hanna, Springfield -- 1942.51 John Weber, Watseka -- 1898.61

51    52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Janice Franz, Springfield -- 1884.04 Terry Goodykoontz, Champaign -- 1878.66 Mike Tomlianovich, Bloomington -- 1862.79 Margaret Hansell, Champaign -- 1860.45 Aldo Mancinelli, Decatur -- 1831.59 Zach Freehill, Bloomington -- 1740.79 Martha Stutz, Springfield -- 1719.62 Bernard Riley, Pekin -- 1711.69 Larry Wilcox, Springfield -- 1688.37 Stephen Hawthorne, Bloomington -- 1653.47          Clay Cuthbertson, Quincy -- 1643.47 John Parsons, Springfield -- 1642.48 Sharon Ertz, Hull -- 1639.35 George Veenstra, Springfield -- 1635.12 Mark Daily, Charleston -- 1599.70 Martha Neal, Mattoon -- 1543.39 Beverly Bakunas, Decatur -- 1541.03 Henry Hoffman, Bloomington -- 1539.97 Tim Cull, Springfield -- 1537.77 J. Nanda, Charleston -- 1511.43 Bobbie Straker, Pekin -- 1487.88 Mary Allen, Peoria -- 1487.70 Michael Jones, Champaign -- 1463.87 Shirley Judy, Urbana -- 1454.06 Roger Sokol, Minooka -- 1452.72 Patrick Moos, Peoria -- 1449.01 Marilyn Stickel, Lacon -- 1406.80 Arlene Drablos, Savoy -- 1390.51 Larry Richardson, Springfield -- 1388.48 James Scott, Rantoul -- 1361.70 Duane Gronau, Bloomington -- 1361.27 Sherry Steigmann, Urbana -- 1357.67 Alan Stutz, Springfield -- 1355.49 Eunice Patton, Bloomington -- 1313.95 Stephen Borbely, Dewey -- 1303.99 D. Atteberry, Mattoon -- 1292.06 Ann Caparros, Springfield -- 1286.03 Marjorie Hanner, Springfield -- 1284.88 Joan Green, Springfield -- 1283.88 Madhu Viswanathan, Champaign -- 1272.93 Gary Schechter, Springfield -- 1261.48 Mary Anne Parsons, Springfield -- 1260.39 Dennis Fitton, Urbana -- 1252.39 Sylvia Lowry, Springfield -- 1227.74 Bob Shair, Champaign -- 1215.94 Jay Poling, Decatur -- 1213.79 Fei Dong, Peoria -- 1202.85 Dariel Richardson, Springfield -- 1199.82 Lois Mott, Quincy -- 1187.38 Lisa Bievenue, Champaign -- 1184.91

Illini Champaign Regional -- May 22-28, 2012

It's not too early to begin thinking about spring and our Unit's annual regional, coming up Memorial Day week in Champaign.

We'll again be playing in the spacious Hilton Garden Inn Convention Center and offering lots of extras, including a speakers program, entry-fee discounts, registration gifts, section-top prizes, nightly buffets and a hotel hospitality suite for socializing after the game.

Bridge rate is $85 at the Hilton or $95 at Homewood Suites if you book for three nights or more ($95 and $105 for one or two nights). Please reserve early, especially if you prefer two beds or a smoking room (a limited number of smoking rooms are available at Homewood).

This year's schedule features a new two-session morning Swiss Teams and three of the popular Gold Rush Pair events for 0-750 players. You can check out the 2012 events and find links for making online hotel reservations on the tournament schedule page. If the three-night discount rate doesn't appear on the online reservation page, your rate will be adjusted when you check in.

Coming up on the Club Calendar

♣  ACBLwide Senior Pairs -- Monday afternoon, March 5

This annual event, open to ages 55+, offers extra masterpoints, pre-dealt hands and online hand analyses after the game. The same hands are being played at clubs around the nation and will offer District-wide and nationwide awards. The sanction fee is $1 more than your club's regular entry fee. Central Illinois clubs that will be hosting this game are:

    Bloomington:  First Christian Church (11:45 am) -- Stephen Hawthorne (309-827-7581)   sbigargman@gmail.com 

    Champaign:  Bridge at Ginger Creek  (12:30 pm) -- Karen Walker (217-359-0042)   kwalker2@comcast.net

    Springfield:  Bridge Club of Springfield  (12:30 pm) -- Ann Caparros  (217-726-9456)  spibridge@spibridge.org

♣  2012-13 North American Pairs -- Club qualifying games in June, July & August

Cheer on our Unit winners:  The 2011-12 North American Pairs concludes in March when District winners play in the national championship in Memphis TN. Three pairs from our Unit will be representing District 8 in the national finals. 

   Flight A:  Nate Ward & Karen Walker, Champaign

   Flight B:  Al Wagner & Mary Niehaus, Danville
                  Jim Slaughter, Champaign & Doug Steele, Seymour

Play begins on March 14. You can check on their results in the online Daily Bulletins from Memphis.

Mini--McKenney & Ace of Clubs updates

Visit the ACBL Unit Awards page to view lists of the top ten Unit players in each category (type 208 into the box that asks for your Unit number). Results will not be official until mid-February. Year-end results for our Central Illinois Unit will be published in the April issue of this newsletter.

Movin' Up 

   Congratulations to these Unit members who recently advanced in rank: