Bridge At Its Best ....
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Barbara Sion Barbara Sion, a Diamond Life Master and Sion, who survived two previous bouts with cancer, battled the disease for more than a dozen years. She was a member of the winning squad in the Mixed Board-a-Match Teams (then the Master Mixed Teams) in 1984 and in 1994. She and Suzy Burger won the Life Master Women’s Pairs in 1996. They were second on the national Women’s Pairs in 1997. Renee Mancuso, a former teammate of Sion’s, said her friend was well respected by all who knew her. “Barbara was just a lovely person,” said Mancuso. Sion leaves a sister, Heather Hendren, and a brother, Michael Hendren. Adventures in
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Starzec landed in Japan because her husband,
Len, is an engineering manager for Exxon Mobil,
and he was transferred to Tokyo. She came to New
York as a speaker at the American Bridge Teachers Starzec says she is still amazed at the way “They can play 24 boards in two and a half hours,” she says. “They move on their own, and there are no director calls. The room is totally quiet, The only sound you hear is when a pair arrives at a table and is greeted with ‘hello.’ You could hear a pin drop during the games.” The first time she played, Starzec recalls, she was the only non-Japanese person in the club.“Everyone welcomed me,” she says. The JCBL, Starzec says, has about 6800 members, the vast majority of whom play a five-card major system. Of the 95% who play five-card majors, 80% of them play a 2/1 game force system. Players who learn bridge through the JCBL go directly into duplicate. “There is very little rubber bridge in Japan,” she says. Starzec doesn’t know how much longer she will be in Japan. It’s her husband’s final overseas assignment before retirement. They could be there just a few more months – or another six years. She does know that in September, she will be teaching bridge in Japan, a job she is looking forward to. Starzec remains impressed with the Japanese culture and the politeness of its bridge population. |
Ernie ClintonLongtime ACBL tournament director Ernie Clinton died in April in Fort Myers FL. The popular director began directing part-time in the early Sixties while he pursued his career as a chemist. Clinton and his wife, Kay, took up bridge in the Forties, and when they progressed to tournament play, Ernie’s duties as a director didn’t allow him to earn masterpoints as rapidly as Kay, so she was the first to achieve the coveted Life Master status. Ernie finally became an LM while playing with his daughter. This became a source of family amusement because Ernie refused to identify his young blonde partner while his fellow directors kept asking, “Where’s Kay?” Clinton loved directing and watching young Michigan (and later, Florida) players evolve into national and world champions. He was a veteran of WWII and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and three grandchildren. The family has requested that any donations be directed to the National Parkinson’s Foundation in Ernie’s name. Said HaddadSaid Haddad, a former North American champion and a contemporary of Charles Goren and Alvin Roth, died June 24 in Fairview NC. He was 88. Haddad won the national Mixed Pairs in 1954 playing with Betty Windley. A World War II veteran, Haddad served as a demolitions expert and later owned a demolitions company. He was in real estate development at the time of his death. He divided his time between North Carolina and Miami Beach FL. He leaves a son, Paul Haddad of Miami FL; a daughter, Christine Carr of McLean VA, and four stepchildren. |