March 2018 - 30

Yes Man

Pete Misslin is 2017 Volunteer of the Year
BY SUE MUNDAY

Volunteering starts with a single
word: Yes.
Pete Misslin has said yes many times
through the years, and look where he
is now: He is the 2017 Nadine Wood
Volunteer of the Year.
A man of several hats, Pete has been
known for the past six years primarily
for co-chairing the gargantuan
Gatlinburg (TN) Regional. (The
tournament this year is April 16-22.)
2017 ACBL President Bob Heller
calls Pete's appointment an easy
choice. "There are great volunteers
throughout the League," Heller says,
"but the magnitude of Pete's commitment stands out. What he does with
Gatlinburg is like chairing an NABC
every year."
Traditionally held in mid-April,
Gatlinburg is frequently called the
fourth North American Bridge Championship. Last year, more than 3200
players flocked to the small mountainresort town 39 miles southeast of
Knoxville; the table count was 7936. (By
comparison, the 2017 Spring NABC in
Kansas City drew 8700 tables.)
Marlene Wass and Judy Nolan, the
first winners of the Nadine Wood
Volunteer of the Year award in 2004,
co-chaired the Gatlinburg Regional for
24 years.

30 Bridge Bulletin March 2018

"When Judy and I decided to retire, I was looking for someone else
foolish enough to take it on," says
Wass. "I considered several people,
but didn't get the right vibes. Then
I watched Pete as he ran a sectional
near here. So I approached him, and
he immediately responded, 'Yes, I will
run it.' It was amazing how quickly he
accepted!"
Pete says Wass popped the question
in 2009, and he and his wife, Julia,
agreed that they would accept the
Gatlinburg committment "under
Marlene's guiding wings" for two
years. Wass compiled a comprehensive
how-to notebook for the new chairs
before pushing the nestlings out to fly
on their own in 2011.
"Volunteers in bridge come from all
walks of life," Pete says, "and they do
what they do for nothing but the love of
the game."
Pete says that when he sees the smile
of someone new to the game who's
earned their first masterpoints, "it is
so worth it. I get excited seeing people
have a good time. When it makes their
day, it makes my day."
Heller and Pete both feel that last
year's tournament attendance was
impacted by the wildfires that swept
through Gatlinburg in the fall of 2016.
When the fires broke out, bridge
players far and wide were moved to
help the affected residents and businesses.
"I worked with Bill Waters, the
president of Unit 165, to challenge the
Knoxville Bridge Club," Pete says. The
club rose to the challenge and then
some, raising $30,000 for relief efforts.
Pete and Heller organized a special
District 7 charity STaC for Gatlinburg
aid, and within 24 hours, eight districts
had followed suit.
Waters, Misslin and two ACBL

staffers were invited by the Dollywood
Foundation to ceremonially present
the ACBL Charity Foundation's
$25,000 check to country music
icon Dolly Parton. (Bridge Bulletin,
February 2017, pg. 9)
"I got calls from all over the country
from people asking, 'What can we do?'"
Pete says. When everything was said
and done, relief contributions from
the bridge community totaled around
$165,000.
"We got a lot of positive press for
what we'd done," says Pete, who notes
the tremendous outpouring of support for a city that doesn't have a single
ACBL-sanctioned bridge club!
Misslin grew up in a whist-playing
household that advanced to contract
bridge, and didn't come to duplicate
bridge until later in life. Julia dipped
her toe in the pool first, then she and a
friend "dragged" Pete in.
They played at The Bridge Connection in Detroit until Pete retired.
The couple moved to East Tennessee,
where they live about 45 miles southwest of Knoxville.
Julia "dragged" Pete to help manage the partnership desk at the Pigeon
Forge (TN) sectional, then the tournament chairs tapped them to take over.
The Misslins retired in January from
Pigeon Forge after 10 years at the helm.
Last summer, Heller asked Pete to
serve on the District 7 board and Pete
predictably said yes. Pete's term as vice
president began Jan. 1. One of the duties of the post is chairing the district's
Tournament Operations Committee.
Pete and Julia have two daughters
who live in Columbus OH, and each
has a son and a daughter.
"My biggest frustration is that I
can't get my kids and grandkids to play
bridge," Pete says. "But I haven't given
up yet."
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2018
