November 2020 - 12

Bridge in
Black and White
A look across the bridge world's racial divide
BY CHIP DOMBROWSKI

Bridge originated at a time when racial segregation was widespread in the
United States. The early bridge organizations that would later merge to form
the ACBL excluded African Americans
from their tournaments, and at least
five Southern states banned interracial
cardplay.
In 1932, a group of 20 Black bridge
players founded their own organization, the American Bridge Association. When the ACBL began in 1937,
it maintained the racist policies of its
predecessors. It wasn't until the Civil
Rights Act passed in 1964 that NABCs
were opened to all players, and three
years later, the ACBL finally adopted a
nondiscrimination policy.
By that time, though, the two organizations had developed infrastructure
over their 35-year history of separation
that would continue propelling them
along separate paths. Players remained
loyal to their local club and the organization to which it belonged. In the
mostly segregated bridge world, little
has changed in 53 years.
Eunice Patton of Bloomington IL is
the ABA's liaison to the ACBL, chairing
a committee that facilitates relations
and promotes activities between the
two organizations. Unlike most ABA
members, Patton began her bridge
career in the ACBL.
While working at State Farm's
headquarters, she met Fred Crockett,
who introduced her to bridge. He lived
in Danville, so they met at the club in
Champaign, about halfway between
their homes. Patton has been playing
in Champaign and Bloomington since
1995, and in all that time, Crockett was

12 Bridge Bulletin November 2020

Eunice Patton is the
ABA's ACBL liaison.

the only fellow Black player she ever
saw there.
Early in her bridge education, Patton
befriended one of the top players in the
area: Georgia Heth, who is currently
the ACBL president. Heth also played
in Champaign, driving over an hour
from the Peoria area, and at tournaments around District 8.
"I would always see Georgia. We just
really hit it off," Patton said. "We would
laugh and talk, and I asked her to be
my mentor. She said she'd love to. I felt
fortunate that she would invest time in
me."
Heth said they had much in common
as professional women about the same
age.
"I met her at the bridge game, and
I liked her," Heth said. "Eunice was a
good beginner; she was very interested.
One time while we were driving to
the game, I taught her the difference
between Texas transfers and Jacoby
transfers and then jumping to game.
Believe it or not, it came up in the second round, and she was very proud she
remembered it. It got us to a slam that
no one else was in."
It was Heth who took Patton to an
ABA tournament for the first time.
After joining the ACBL Board in 2002,
Heth came to admire Harriette Buckman, who served several years as the
ACBL's liaison to the ABA. Buckman
invited Heth to the ABA's 2004 summer national in Indianapolis, and Heth
invited Patton to play in the women's
pairs.
"I had never heard of the ABA,"
Patton said.
Though Heth found the atmosphere

Georgia Heth
mentored Patton
in the late '90s.

very friendly - "better on average than
the ACBL" - Patton didn't feel warmly
welcomed. She continued playing
exclusively in the ACBL for another 11
years.
At the 2015 Summer NABC in Chicago, Sam Graham convinced Patton
to take another look at the ABA. She
decided to go to their tournament that
fall in Atlantic City with a friend from
Pennsylvania. This time, she found
the welcome so warm she was overwhelmed and joined immediately.
"In the ABA, I feel like part of a family and have developed special relationships that I treasure," Patton said. "The
tournaments tend to be more relaxed
and less structured. We look forward to
seeing each other and interacting socially and at the bridge table. Because
we share many of the same experiences
and backgrounds, I feel at home and
comfortable."
Russ Jones, Heth's predecessor as
ACBL president, is Patton's counterpart as the ACBL's liaison to the ABA.
Jones, too, appreciates the ABA's
homey atmosphere. "To go to their
tournaments and play, you're the most
welcome person. They're so cordial. It
just seemed a much more friendly environment than ours. I took some people
from my club and they said, 'Those are
the friendliest people I ever met!'"
It's a lot easier to maintain that
personal closeness in an organization
the ABA's size, with fewer than 2500
members. The entire organization is
smaller than District 8, the smallest
district in the ACBL.
Patton identified four reasons the racial divide persists in bridge: the lack of

November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2020