December 2013 - 7

➺ InBox

Letters to the Editor

Classy Karl

Big performance

My heartiest congratulations to the
cast and crew of the annual Moncton
(NB) Sectional in September. An enormous success, the tournament was well
attended and ran like clockwork. Mark
Golding, the chair, and his committee,
including Connie Bartlett and Jenny
Huntsman, are to be commended for
their excellent efforts. Those who
attended exhibited great warmth and
hospitality, for which Maritime Canadians are famous.
A major star of the show was Karl
Hicks, director in charge. Karl and his
superb sense of humor are legendary.
To wit, his pre-game announcement on
Friday went something like this:
"I would remind you all that your
partner did not come here to intentionally ruin your day.
"So when your partner does something that you think is at best ridiculous, you should say nothing for three
reasons:
"One - Upon reflection, you could be
wrong.
"Two - There could have been something in the bidding or play that would
have helped your partner make the
right decision.
"Three - Most important, you will do
something in the next few hours that
will be equally inferior or worse, and
you don't want to hear about it.
"So be nice to your partner and your
opponents. We have new players here
and we want them to come back."
Karl is an extraordinary person and a
fantastic director. He has full command
of the room at all times, and everyone
adores and respects him. We can all
use what we learn from him when we
go out to direct games at all levels of
competition.
BARBARA SEAGRAM
Toronto ON

Many caring, dedicated people -
ACBL members and others - did a
wonderful job on The Longest Day
(September, page 14). I know it's
impossible to cite everyone for their
contributions, but I want to give credit
to someone who just about singlehandedly got our small club into the fundraising top 10.
Nan Massie's efforts helped put the
Jefferson Bridge Association at No.
7 on the list. As far as I can tell, every
group ahead of us is a full-time club,
not a twice-a-week club like us.
Whether it is this event, chairing our
regional in February (a huge success)
or anything else related to bridge in the
Charlottesville area, Nan works tirelessly to make sure that everyone has
a great time, that events run smoothly
and there are always plenty of snacks!
SCOTT TUMPERI
Charlottesville VA

Mission possible
One doesn't need a spade to dig deep
to find the big hearts of many members of the clubs of Unit 140 who are
truly diamonds in the rough - all puns
intended!
Four players - Nat and Julie Zucker
at Joe Coult's Capital City Duplicate
Bridge Club in Ewing NJ, plus Howard
Halpern and David Harris at Howard's
Grand Slam Duplicate Bridge Club in
Milltown NJ - have made it their mission to help a wonderful player enjoy
our fascinating pastime.
Allan Kolber, now non-ambulatory
because of the effects of Parkinson's
Disease, loves to play bridge - especially duplicate. In order for him to get
to a club, his motorized chair must be
disassembled/assembled at least four
times to get into and out of cars and
buildings.

The hardy warriors mentioned above
selflessly do this on a regular basis.
They also often play kitchen bridge
with Allan at home and find other Unit
140 members joyfully willing to be his
partner.
Julie, of the warm smile, shining
eyes and sincere concern for others, is
the spark. She makes the calls to find
partners and even arranged a partnership and the extensive transportation
and other logistics for Allan to play in
a recent regional where, we are proud
to say, he and his partner won a Swiss
teams.
Bridge players all over are hardnosed at the table but have an "open
hand" and heart to help others share
their love of the game.
Dr. ARTHUR FRANK
Pennington NJ

Zeke as mentor
Having read the editor's September
message about being a mentor, I was
motivated to acknowledge one of the
kindest and most brilliant players I
have had the pleasure of meeting in
bridge.
In the early 1970s, during my formative years at the game in Ann Arbor
MI, I was blessed by Zeke Jabbour's
generous and patient teachings at the
table. He was a major inspiration to me
and helped change my game, especially
from an etiquette perspective.
Thank you, Mr. Jabbour. I look
forward to your next lesson of bridge
wisdom in the Bridge Bulletin.
HENRY KWAN
Summit NJ

What doesn't happen
After a 30-year hiatus, I returned to
playing bridge about four years ago to
discover the prevalence of the 2/1
December 2013 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2013