April 2018 - 16

Claim
to Fame

Katz, Levin and Rodwell
elected to Hall of Fame
BY SUE MUNDAY

Three of the game's greats are being accorded ACBL's highest honor.
In their first year of eligibility, Ralph
Katz, Robert Levin and Eric Rodwell
have won Open Award election into the
ACBL Hall of Fame. Their induction
ceremony will take place July 26 during the Summer NABC in Atlanta.
Paul Lewis, who chairs the Hall of
Fame Committee, explains that the
Open Award recognizes North American residents, at least 60 years old, who
have achieved prominence in the game
and have an outstanding tournament
record.
"These inductees combine for an
amazing 114 North American Bridge
Championship titles," says Lewis, "attesting to the strength of the slate of
candidates assembled by the committee this year."
Each of the new Hall of Famers has
one Player of the Year win to his credit
(given to the player who wins the most
platinum points in a year); all three are
World Grand Masters and ACBL Grand
Life Masters. All three inductees are
also members of the star-studded Nick
Nickell team; two of their teammates
- Nickell and Jeff Meckstroth - are
already enshrined in the Hall.

RALPH KATZ

Katz, of Burr Ridge IL, topped the
Player of the Year race in 2001. He won
the 2009 Bermuda Bowl and the 2010
Rosenblum Teams playing with the
Nickell team. He also earned a silver

16 Bridge Bulletin April 2018

medal in the 2007 Bermuda Bowl and
a bronze in the 2000 World Team
Olympiad as part of the George Jacobs
squad, and a silver medal in the 1990
World Open Pairs with Peter Nagy.
Katz, born in Pittsburgh PA, grew up
in Steubenville OH. He learned bridge
at the age of 16 while visiting his uncle.
At the Las Vegas Summer NABC in
1979, Katz and partner Ken Schutze
wanted to practice for the Spingold,
but they couldn't find teammates.
"We decided to play in the Life
Master Pairs to practice. It worked
out pretty well," says Katz. The pair
notched their first North American
championship by winning the prestigious three-day contest. Katz was 22.
Prior to retiring to play bridge professionally, Katz traded options on the
Chicago Exchange. He was also the
CEO of an options-trading firm.
The 23-time NABC champion says,
"Being voted into the Hall of Fame is
beyond anything I ever expected. Being asked to join the Nickell team will
always be the highlight of my bridge
career, but this is a very close second."
Nickell says Katz is very funny and a
lot of fun to be with, both at and away
from the bridge table. "Ralph is a super
nice person, a gentleman and a great
partner. A testament to this is that he
has won national titles with an extraordinarily large number of different
partners."
Katz calls the honor a tribute to all

his partners, teammates, supportive friends, "and last, but not least,
my amazing family. I could not have
achieved this without their help and
encouragement. This a tribute to all
those who were part of my journey."

ROBERT LEVIN

At the age of 13, Levin won the first
tournament event he ever entered - the
Men's Pairs at a New York sectional
- making him the youngest winner in
the history of the event. In March 1973,
Levin became the youngest Life Master at the age of 15 years and 4 months
- a record he held until 1975. By the age
of 17, Levin was playing professionally
on teams with Miami bridge legend/
Hall of Famer Russ Arnold.
In 1981, his team (Arnold, Bud
Reinhold, John Solodar, Meckstroth
and Rodwell) defeated Zia Mahmood-
led Pakistan to win the Bermuda Bowl.
The victory made Levin, at 22 years
old, the youngest world champion at
the time.
Levin added another gold medal to
his jewelry collection when he and
Steve Weinstein won the World Open
Pairs in 2010. He won two silver medals at the Verona World Championships in 2006: one playing with his
wife, Jill, in the World Mixed Pairs
and one playing with Weinstein in the
Open Pairs.
Levin, who has 29 NABC wins,
claimed the Player of the Year title in

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2018