I am extremely proud of my recent achievement of attaining NABC Master in a relatively short time! My first black points were earned on December 31, 2019, three weeks after my initial visit to the South Jersey Bridge Club. Little did anyone anticipate how all of our lives would drastically change over the ensuing months!

  There are many people to thank in reaching this milestone. First my teachers: Lou Minter (showed me how to play bridge for the first time during a cruise in November 2019), Martin de Bruin, Dave Le Grow, Joann Glasson and Becky Levinson. Also, many people over the last two years have partnered with me and tolerated my mistakes and poor judgment: Pam, Becky, Christina, Wendy, Susan, Ann, but most importantly, John O’Rourke. Thank you all for your patience and friendship!

   Finally, and of paramount significance, I would love to thank my loving wife of 40 years, Carol, who has been putting up with me, throughout these last two years, with my new addiction. Carol, thank you for your love and support!

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.