Frank Morgan

I went to Chicago Nationals to play in the Spingold with Farley Mawyer and teammates Larry Gordon and Steve Siegel, who had just placed second in Grand National Teams B. We lost in the first match to the Overdeck team against Norberto Bocchi and Leonardo Fruscoloni. Roberto can deal at ten times the normal speed. Leo bet me that you can get a review of the bidding any time during the play, and paid up $1. In the MiniSpingold we qualified the first day but then lost to the team that won the whole thing.* I also played with Victor Xiao (father of the precocious Eric and Jeff) and off-duty pro Alamiro Pinoargote from Equador. But no victories until Bob Cole and I won the final open pairs side game. Hand 25 at 4 Spades looked hopeless after the Diamond finesse failed, as I would have to keep Clubs to a single loser. I led low from South’s dummy and West erred by rising with the Ace. Now I could lead the J from hand, smothering the T.

*Martin Harris, Chicago IL; Miriam HarrisBotzum, Orefield PA; Mark Kinzer, New Berlin WI; Bob Marheine, Waukesha WI.