Fall National Open Pairs

{{Short description|Bridge championship}}

The National Open Pairs was the first national bridge championship for open pairs and was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC) as a four-session matchpoint (MP) pairs event.

History

Inaugurated in 1928 and contested for the Cavendish Trophy, the event lost its national rating after the 1962 NABCs being displaced by the Blue Ribbons Pairs event, renamed the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1999. The Open Pairs carried on as a secondary eventA secondary event is one held at a national tournament concurrently with a championship event. They are open to players eliminated from the major events and to new players, are usually two sessions long and carry a regional rating. at fall NABCs until 1971 when it was discontinued.

Winners

Two Open Pairs champions successfully defended that title: Willard Karn–P. Hal Sims in 1932 and Helen Sobel–Margaret Wagar in 1948. The last winner of the Open Pairs as a premier event, B. Jay BeckerDorothy Hayden in 1962, also won the first Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1963. No other partnership won the Open Pairs twice.

Jane and Lewis M. Jaeger won the Open Pairs as a married couple in 1945; they were also the first married couple to become Life Masters.

Since Sobel and Wagar won in 1947 and 1948, no pair of women has won either the Fall National Open Pairs to 1962 or the Blue Ribbon Pairs from 1963. Mary Jane Farell and Marilyn Johnson alone won the equally prestigious Life Master Pairs as partners, in 1978.

class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ National Open Pairs, 1928 to 1962

Year || Winners || Runners-up
 1928 

|| Theodore Lightner, Waldemar von Zedtwitz

|| Ely Culbertson, Josephine Culbertson

1929

| colspan=2| 1/2. William McKenney, Ralph Richards
1/2. Hortense Evans, Mrs. Sidney Lovell

1930

|| Louise W. Bright, P. S. Germain

|| B. Foster, Ann W. Loftus

1931

|| Willard Karn, P. Hal Sims

|| Olga Hilliard, Louis H. Watson

1932

|| Willard Karn, P. Hal Sims

|| Oswald Jacoby, Louis H. Watson

1933

|| Charles A. Hall, Richard M. Wildberg

|| Sam Fry, Waldemar von Zedtwitz

1934

|| Charles Lochridge, Johnny Rau

|| Harry Fishbein, Herman Goldberg

1935

|| Edward Hymes, Oswald Jacoby

|| Paul D. Parcells, Charles Rilling

1936

|| Walter Jacobs, Ralph Kempner

|| Allyne Paris, John R. Smith

1937

||   A. Mitchell Barnes, Waldemar von Zedtwitz  

|| Phil Abramsohn, Harry Fishbein

1938

|| Frank E. Bubna, Mollie Funk

|| Sonny Moyse, Helen Sobel

1939

|| Walter Jacobs, Albert Weiss

|| Phil Abramsohn, Morrie Elis

1940

|| Charles Goren, Helen Sobel

|| Henry Chanin, Harry Fishbein

1941

|| Sidney Silodor, Sally Young

|| Phil Abramsohn, Harry Fishbein

1942

|| Alvin Roth, Tobias Stone

||   Harry Fishbein, Waldemar von Zedtwitz  

1943

|| Ruth Goldberg, Edith Seligman

|| Ned Drucker, Milton Moss

1944

|| Ambrose Casner, Ralph Hirschberg

|| Aaron Frank, Arthur S. Goldsmith

1945

|| Jane Jaeger, Lewis M. Jaeger

|| Bill Levin, Leo Roet

1946

|| B. Jay Becker, Sidney Silodor

|| David C. Carter, Frances Carter

1947

|| Helen Sobel, Margaret Wagar

|| Sam Fry, Ruth Sherman

1948

|| Helen Sobel, Margaret Wagar

|| Peter Leventritt, Edson Wood

1949

|| Gardner E. Goldsmith, Charles Whitebrook

|| B. Jay Becker, Simon Becker

1950

|| Mark Kelliher, Jack Kushner

|| Leo Roet, Edson Wood

1951

|| Arthur Glatt, Albert Weiss

|| Richard Kahn, Peter Leventritt

1952

|| Israel Cohen, Vic D. Zeve

|| Paula Bacher, Leo Roet

1953

|| Byron Greenberg, Harold Rockaway

|| David C. Carter, Curtis Smith

1954

|| George Heath, Paul Hodge

|| F. Ayres Bombeck, David C. Carter

1955

|| Milton Q. Ellenby, Emmanuel Hochfeld

|| Barbara Brier, Waldemar von Zedtwitz

1956

|| Ben Fain, Paul Hodge

|| Norman Kay, Charles J. Solomon

1957

|| Lew Mathe, Edward O. Taylor

|| Paul Allinger, Sidney Lazard

1958

|| John Fisher, Emma Jean Hawes

|| Al Roth, Tobias Stone

1959

|| Morton Rubinow, Sam Stayman

|| William Grieve, Emmanuel Hochfeld

1960

|| Oswald Jacoby, Curtis Smith

|| Simon Becker, Eugene Davidson

1961

|| Phil Feldesman, Ira Rubin

|| Jack Blair, Robert Stucker

1962

|| B. Jay Becker, Dorothy Hayden

|| Eddie Kantar, Marshall Miles

colspan=3 bgcolor=#FFFFFF| succeeded by the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs

See also

Notes

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • {{OEB|6}}
  • "Search Results: Open Pairs (1928–1962)". ACBL. Visit [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204184033/http://www.acbl.org/play/nabc-winners.html "NABC Winners"]; select a Discontinued NABC.
  • "Search Results: Open Pairs (1963–1971)". ACBL. Visit NABC Winners; select a Discontinued NABC. {{dead link|date=June 2014}}

{{WPCBIndex}}

Category:North American Bridge Championships