When I was a teenager, my sister Alberta Brown learned to play Bridge at Alfred University.  She then taught my brothers and sisters to play Bridge.  My Grandmother, Alma Wilcox, was a Silver Life Master as well as my 2 sisters, Alberta Brown and Dorothy Argentieri.

I tried to be a good player like them.  In 1996, Mary Thacher, a member of the Helen Bayley Bridge Club in Hornell, NY, convinced me to start playing Contract Bridge.  I played in a few tournaments other than locally.  Mrs. Thatcher was in her 90’s and I played about 10 years with her before she passed on.  I played in Geneseo with Les Brill and Hornell with Larry Greil to win these points.  The results were very good and surprising.

I learned the game ages ago but never played. My bridge activity was limited to the game in the daily newspaper. I actually thought nobody played bridge in the Rochester area. Then, chatting with Jerry Manioci (a Sapphire Life Master) I realized bridge was being played in the area.

I signed up for bridge lessons at the Pittsford Recreation Center. I skipped the 101 class because I thought I knew the basics. Quickly I found the game had changed. I bought the 101 book and crammed to catch up.

I started playing some social bridge with some of the classmates. This led to playing duplicate. Mary Lyke, my teacher, suggested that a classmate, Jim Baxter, and I would be good partners. We teamed up and have played for about five years. We have been mentored, taken classes, and often meet for breakfast to discuss recent blunders and evaluate new conventions. We have played in club games and several tournaments around the state and accumulated our points. We both lacked about 1.5 silver and it seemed to take forever to claim them.

I want to thank Jerry for re-starting my bridge interest, Mary for her patient teaching, and Jim for being a great partner.

I first learned bridge in college, but played infrequently. By the time I hit 40 I had well under 100 points and it looked like I would never reach Life Master. Nevertheless, I enjoyed playing bridge at home with my wife Carol and our children, Eric and Bonnie. After taking Eric to his first duplicate game, he became hooked and we played together during his high school years. By the time he graduated high school he was King of Bridge and we were both Life Masters—I got mine about a week before his, undoubtedly the last time I will ever beat Eric at any bridge milestone! Bonnie, 4 years younger than Eric, accompanied all of us to National bridge tournaments, found a partner her age, and wound up winning a $5,000 college scholarship for children under 13 years old from the ACBL.

After Eric went on to better partners, I played bridge less. When my wife and I retired and moved to Philadelphia in 2013, I had hardly played for a decade. I started playing again, much more often than I had ever done, and I was lucky enough to meet and play with many good players who became my friends and who helped me improve my bridge game significantly. I achieved my last couple of Life Master levels living here. Besides my gratitude and love toward Eric, I would also like to give my thanks in particular to Scott Brown, Mike Giesler, Alison Brandt, Bruce Lang, Mark Bolotin, Lynn Condon, Ala Hamilton-Day, and John Williams. Also my thanks to the BBO robot who was always patient with me, never criticizing any of my bids or plays, and whose occasional psychotic bids would be a reminder to me to keep my sense of humor while playing bridge. Most of all I would like to thank my wife Carol, my occasional bridge partner and nearly 50 year life partner, for her love and encouragement.