May 2014 - 28

Henry Cukoff 1949-2014

enry Cukoff, one of ACBL's top
tournament directors, collapsed on March 28 a half hour
before game time at the Dallas NABC
and died at Baylor University Hospital
about an hour later. He was 64.
Cukoff, who was director in charge of
the morning games in Dallas, received
CPR while emergency medical technicians were on the way, but did not
recover.
The stunned tournament directing
staff in Dallas reacted with sadness but
also appreciation for Cukoff, whose
directing career started in his native
Canada in 1973. The Montreal resident
was promoted to national rank in 1991.
National TD Doug Grove said he
always enjoyed talking to Cukoff. "He
was so brilliant that when you engaged
him in conversation he would often
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take it to some other level. It wasn't
always easy to keep up, but it was fun
to try."
Charlie MacCracken, another
national TD, said Cukoff always had
"good judgment in making rulings."
Part of that came from expertise as a
player. Bert Eccles, a Montreal expert,
described Cukoff as "an excellent
player. He gave up playing about 40
years ago in order to direct, but before
that, he was in the Eric Kokish/George
Mittelman/Joe Silver crowd in Montreal. He also spent time in Massachusetts with the likes of Lou Reich and
Marc Jacobus. Henry was considered
the best of that Massachusetts group at
the time."
Paul Janicki, who represents District 2 on the ACBL Board of Directors, knew Cukoff well from the many
tournaments he ran in Canada and in
the northeastern U.S.
"He didn't put up with bridge BS,"
Janicki said, "because he was a good
player. You couldn't pull the wool over
his eyes, and he was appreciated in our
area because he was always there for
us."
National TD Patty Johnson said
Cukoff "was a unique person. He did
things his own way and lived his life
the way he wanted to. He was very
comfortable with himself."
Jeff Johnston, senior director at
ACBL and the organization's meeting
planner, said Cukoff will be remembered for his quick wit and many clever
pronouncements, including the following, which he reportedly delivered to
an annoying person: "Of all the people
who think they know everything, you
seem to know the least."
"Henry knew a lot about bridge, perhaps the most." Johnston said. "I will
miss Henry, his wit, his encyclopedic

knowledge of baseball and keen insight
into the world of bridge."
Cukoff's love of baseball was well
documented. A brief ACBL biography
on Cukoff noted, "He is the only tournament director who can give you an
expert ruling on a bridge matter and,
just in case you want it, the low-down
on practically anything to do with
major-league baseball."
Cukoff once said, "I go to every baseball game I can go to no matter where
I am." In his longstanding love affair
with baseball, Cukoff saw games in
40 different stadiums that are or were
major league parks and attended the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
13 years in a row. He also attended
more than 100 post-season baseball
games, including the World Series.
"There wasn't a question about baseball he couldn't answer." Johnson said.
Cukoff is survived by his wife, Myra
Abrams.
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