I would like to thank all the directors and the club owners and workers that have helped me along the way.
I’m so proud of the clubs that I I have been a part of. Thank you to Ed and Mark and all of my friends that have helped me in this journey.
Category Archives: Stories
Monica Knopf – Life Master
I learned to play bridge when I was around 8 years old but stopped when I was 12. I didn’t play again for 50 years. When I moved to Harrisburg a friend invited me to play in a local social bridge game. I would play a couple times a month. Transfers were considered advanced play! After retiring my social bridge players told me that I should join the local Harrisburg Bridge Club. That was two years ago. The club was extremely helpful in supporting me. Even though I had played only a few months, with encouragement from the club directors, I started playing in open games. I found myself enjoying the game and played more and more. Mike Zeller spent countless hours teaching me how to be disciplined in my bidding and to declare and defend well. Bill Even and I became regular partners at the club and in tournaments, and we learned a lot together. Other advanced members mentored and helped me as well.
Near the end of October, I had 400 masterpoints. Some of my bridge colleagues were getting their Life Master in 2024, and I didn’t want to be left behind. I had to get to 500 by the end of November to be recognized at the annual meeting. So I set my goal of 100 MPs in a month to become Life Master. It wasn’t easy. I traveled to tournaments and pretty much played every day. Some were skeptical it was possible, but many players encouraged me and helped, and I am very grateful. I reached 502.05 MPs on November 30, and my goal of Life Master became reality.
Linda Schelke – NABC Master
My husband and I retired from the investment business in Manhattan and moved to Philadelphia 30 years ago. We raised our family here, and built an active life.
As we aged, we wanted to have an activity that we enjoyed together. Bridge fit that bill. We both played a bit in college and only sporadically afterward, since work and then family monopolized our time. We began to focus on playing together right before the Pandemic and then everything shut down. We don’t play on-line, so we had to wait until in-person play began again, using bridge solitaire programs to keep our new skills fresh. Once face-to-face began, we dove in playing 2-3 times per week. Little by little our point count built. I had played sanctioned games occasionally so I had a few more points than my husband, and have reached the NABC Master Level first. My husband is not far behind.
We both love the game and the continuing challenge it provides. We wake in the morning and sometimes say, “Good Morning! If I bid a Heart, and you bid a Spade…” Our next goal is Life Masters but at 74 and 85 years of age, we can only hope!
Dawn Haas – Junior Master
My bridge story is really a story about my Dad and me, which is why he is pictured with me. For my entire life, my Dad played bridge. Sometimes, I would tag along and watch and occasionally I’d caddy.
In 2020, my parents moved from Missouri to New York to live with my husband and I, leaving their friends and my Dad’s beloved bridge club and partner behind. I retired in 2022 and started playing bridge as a way to spend time with him and to learn the game that he loved so much. He’s been the best teacher and partner I could wish for and the time playing with him has been precious.
Rene Mcmenamin – Life Master
I can’t think of my bridge life without thinking of my brother Tom, a lovely 62 year old sweet soul with Down’s syndrome. Tom came to live with my husband and me 23 years ago, 5 years before I started playing bridge. Tom was there whether I was playing locally on club teams,duplicate at the Jersey shore or taking lessons and playing duplicate at the Vero Beach bridge center. Tom was not literally at the table with me. Rather, he was riding his bike up and down the Ocean City boardwalk (once as far as Atlantic City!) or riding his bike 12 miles to take tennis lessons in Vero Beach.
Locally, he worked in Chestnut Hill on the avenue and would spend hours with all the local business people….even being interviewed by channel 6 as the honorary mayor of Chestnut Hill! Tom would always encourage me to play bridge… “Bridge makes you happy, Rene.” A true sentiment but I eventually realized his ulterior motive….freedom! So Tom was right…bridge made me happy and perhaps him even happier!
Sadly, Tom now has dementia and his blue eyes are usually clouded by confusion. I told him that I reached a new level in bridge and he just nodded. A few minutes later he smiled and said “bridge makes you happy”.
Sweet brother.
Bill Goldman – Gold Life Master
I don’t believe that my bridge story is very special or interesting. I started to play bridge in the early 1960s when my wife and I were first married and I was in the Navy stationed in the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile crisis. We along with other military couples stationed on a beautiful island without television or telephones started to play bridge together.
Not knowing much but with plenty of time , I started reading a bridge book by Goren. I must admit I wasn’t very good or had much time to play and when we came home we both joined the ACBL in 1991. My wife continued playing and improving so that she moved up the ranks so that she now is a Diamond Life Master. I on the other hand went to college to earn my MD and Ph. D.
However I did persist and adhered to my mother-in-laws mantra that if you live long enough everything that you want will happen. Now that I am 89 years old I guess I am old enough for a Gold Life Master rank. I persisted.