August 2018 - 9

Due Recognition

The CBF inducts Reus, Fergani into
BY KATIE THORPE
the Canadian Hall of Fame.
Photo by Michael Yuen

The Canadian Bridge Federation held its annual Hall
of Fame induction ceremony during the Canadian Bridge
Championships at the end of May in Montreal. The 2018 inductees are Sharyn Reus of Summerstown ON and Kamel
Fergani of Montreal.
This year's ceremony began with a short memorial for
Eric Murray, one of the original inductees into the CBF Hall
of Fame, and also a member of the ACBL Hall of Fame. John
Carruthers delivered a remembrance of Murray, with Allan
Graves and Michael Roche providing additional remarks.

Sharyn Reus

Sharyn first represented Canada at the 1972 Olympiad
Teams in Miami, having played for only three years at the
time, finishing a very respectable seventh place. She went
on to win 10 Canadian Women's Team Championships,
and she represented Canada 16 times at team events in the
world championships, finishing third on three occasions:
1988 (Venice), 1989 (Perth) and 1996 (Rhodes). Sharyn also
represented Canada five times in world championship pair
events and attained the rank of World Life Master.
Carruthers - who was inducted into the Canadian Hall of
Fame in 2015 - introduced Sharyn: "I had the good fortune
to captain Sharyn's team a few times. She was the perfect
partner and teammate: She never made a mistake, and she
never criticized her partner, her teammates or, most importantly, her captain, for their mistakes. She and Dianna
Gordon were for years the best Canadian women's pair and
one of the best in the world."
Carruthers also shared comments from other Canadian
luminaries who were unable to attend the induction ceremony. Of Sharyn, Eric Kokish wrote, "How proud I am that
you always played the game the right way and tried to find
the truth."
Former partner Gordon wrote, "I had the good fortune of
sitting South opposite Sharyn's North for the better part of
40 years! I know, I know ... She doesn't look old enough to
make that true, but it is. My motto was, 'It's better to play
with her than against her,' because she is such a tigress at
the bridge table! Until screens interrupted my vision, I used
to enjoy watching her intensity and her very careful craftsmanship as she fought for every single trick in a contract
that was usually too optimistic. A bit of a magician is that
Sharyn Reus! Her spot in the Canadian Bridge Hall of Fame
is anxiously awaiting."

Sharyn Reus and Kamel Fergani are inducted into the
Canadian Bridge Hall of Fame.

Kamel Fergani

Kamel Fergani of Montreal has represented Canada seven
times at teams in world championship contests, several
times in pairs, and served as non-playing captain for the
2011 Canadian Senior team. He has won six Canadian
National Team Championships and two NABC events - the
1988 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams and the 2016 Wernher
Open Pairs. Additionally, he is a well-respected and wellloved teacher.
Nicolas L'Ecuyer, who was mentored by Kamel as a young
player before becoming his regular partner, introduced Kamel. L'Ecuyer described the "six levels of bridge."
"Level 1: learn how to bid. Level 2: learn how to play. Level
3: really learn how to bid. Level 4: really learn how to play.
Level 5: really, really, really learn how to bid. And Level 6 -
which I am now renaming in honor of Kamel - the Fergani
Level - which is to really, really learn and know how to play
the game.
"Kamel is a great teammate. And if there was anything
complex to play, I would always leave it to Kamel to play it.
It's the best way to optimize our results."
Both recipients thanked their partners, teammates and
families, attributing much of their success to them. Kamel
especially thanked Francois Gauthier, an early mentor, for
teaching him that (a) there were partscores and (b) the
opponents were allowed to play a hand! He claimed that he
had a hard time passing those lessons on to his presenter,
Nicolas.
The inductees received commemorative statues engraved
with West Coast Haida symbols. For Sharyn, the salmon,
a symbol of persistence and determination; for Kamel, the
owl, a symbol of intuition, wisdom and keen sight.
◾
August 2018 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018