|
The Reisinger History
The Reisinger is held annually at
the Fall North American Bridge Championships. The event is contested
for the Reisinger Trophy (the Chicago Trophy until 1965).
It is a six-session open team-of-four event scored by board-a-match
with two qualifying sessions, two semifinal sessions and two final
sessions. It was contested as a four-session cham-pionship until
1966.
The event began in 1929 as
the North American Open Team Championship and the prize was the
Chicago Trophy, donated by the Auction Bridge Club of Chicago. (In
1928, the open team competition was for the Harold S. Vanderbilt
Cup.)
The Chicago Trophy was replaced in
1965 by the Reisinger Memorial Trophy, donated by the Greater New
York Bridge Association in memory of Curt H. Reisinger.
Reisinger (1891-1964), of
New York City, was a principal patron of contract bridge and
the American Contract Bridge League in the early years of both.
Reisinger was a great-grandson
of Anheuser and a grandson of Busch, co-founders of the
brewery from which he inherited great wealth. That wealth
enabled him to become a stalwart financial supporter of the
game, as well as a noted philanthropist on a far larger scale.
In the years when there was often
a struggle to meet the League's modest payroll, Reisinger was often
called upon and never failed to help with a loan or an outright
gift. His support made possible several early contract bridge tournaments,
clubs and books.
Among the positions in which he
served were director of the United States Bridge Association,
president of the Greater New York Bridge Association and chairman
of the ACBL. In 1953, Reisinger was named ACBL Honorary Member.
Looking back
The only all-women's team to win
the Reisinger -- or any other major open team event -- was Sally
Young, Jane Jaeger, Paula Ribner and Kay Rhodes.
They tied in 1947 with John Crawford,
Ted Lightner, George Rapee and Sam Stayman; and Robert Appleyard,
Simon Rossant, Morris Berliant and M.A. Lightman.
Young had four Reisinger wins
plus seven wins in the Women's Teams, four wins in
the Women's Pairs, five wins in the Mixed Teams, and
one win each in the Fall Open Pairs and Fall Mixed Pairs.
She died in 1970. Ribner and Jaeger, both now living in Florida,
are Gold Life Masters who remain active players. Jaeger was a member
of the winning squad in the Grand National Teams in 1973, its inaugural
year. Jaeger and husband Lewis were the first married couple to
attain Life Master rank and Lewis was a member of the winning Reisinger
team in 1934. Together, they were second in the Vanderbilt in 1956.
Fifty-three years ago, at the Fall
NABC in Hollywood FL, Edith Freilich became the 13th woman to win
the Reisinger. Her teammates were Mitch Barnes, John Crawford and
Al Roth.
Freilich and Roth repeated their
victory in 1952. This time, their teammates were Harold Harkavy
and Tobias Stone.
The history of the Reisinger is dotted
with back-to-back wins but only the Nickell squad has the three-peat.
The team of John Crawford, Charles Goren, Charles Solomon and Sally
Young won in 1937 and 1938 -- the same squad, plus B. Jay Becker,
also won in 1939.
Oswald Jacoby won his first
Reisinger in 1955, playing on a team with his son Jim -- the
only father-son combination to win the event. Jacoby's second
Reisinger win came in 1983 when he was invited to join the team
of Edgar Kaplan, Norman Kay, Richard Pavlicek and Bill Root.
John Crawford holds the record
for most Reisinger wins with 10. His victories spanned four
decades: 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1953, 1954, 1956 and
1961.
A multi-national team won in 1987.
Team members included Zia, Jaggy Shivdasani, Billy Cohen and Ron
Smith.
Said Zia: "The best thing about this
was that we had a black (Smith), a Jew (Cohen, who is a Canadian
citizen), an Indian (Shivdasani) and a Pakistani (Zia) playing together."
Zia is a Muslim and Shivdasani is a Hindu.
"It's good to show how bridge can
bring together people from such different backgrounds," he added.
"It just shows a special magic about the game of bridge."
A multi-national team won again in
1989. Zia was on the team which included Sam Lev, Israel; Michael
Rosenberg, U.S. but formerly of Scotland; Chris Compton, U.S., and
Mark Molson, Canada.
Molson scored a rare double at the
Fall NABC in Lancaster PA that year. He took top honors in the two
premier events of the tournament -- the Reisinger and the Blue Ribbon
Pairs.
The record margin of victory
in the Reisinger -- 10 full boards -- was set in 1966
by Kaplan, Kay, Robert Jordan and Arthur Robinson.
- NABC Daily Bulletin
|
