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The American Bridge Association (ABA) is a tournament bridge organization in the United States of America.
The ABA was formed in 1932 [1] by black tennis players at Buckroe Beach, Virginia; at the time, blacks were excluded from most bridge events.
The desire to compete in the sport of tennis despite the racial barriers of the time resulted in the creation of the American Tennis Association in 1916. The Association often held its matches on college campuses such as Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, and Lincoln University, where adequate facilities were available. One such championship event was held at Hampton in the year 1932. At the conclusion of the tournament, a group of tennis players, who were also bridge enthusiasts, suggested having a duplicate bridge match in the evening as a form of relaxation. This event, coupled with impetus from the Cromwell School of Contract Bridge in New York City, marked the beginning of the American Bridge Association. Dr. M.E. DuBisette became the first president of the ABA and the first National Bridge Tournament was held in Buckroe Beach, Virginia in 1933.
The membership of the newly formed ABA burgeoned, and in 1936 the ABA merged with the Eastern Bridge League, a group of New York City bridge clubs. Since this time the ABA has evolved into eight sections - Eastern, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Southwestern, Midwestern, Western, and Northwestern.
As the ABA continued to grow, attention focused on the need for a permanent home. The ideal of a permanent location was accomplished when a building, which now houses the ABA National Office and ABA memorabilia, was purchased in Atlanta, Georgia in 1994. In the 1980s, the American Bridge Association selected the Schomburg Center in New York City to officially house its memorabilia. The ABA National Headquarters showcases artifacts and catalogs ABA documents. In 2005, the American Bridge Association published Defining Moments, a historical package which includes a written chronicle, DVD of oral history, and playing cards. These components depict the movements, forces, and people who helped shape the history of the ABA. The entire package or its components may be obtained from the ABA National Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1967, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) removed the final obstacle to ACBL membership for African-Americans when it included in its by-laws a rule that no person could be denied membership because of race, color, or creed. [2] Historically, many states, particularly in the South, had laws that made card-playing between blacks and whites illegal. Some of those were: Texas, [3] Tennessee, [4] Mississippi, [5] Alabama, [6] and Huntsville, Alabama. [7]
The ABA membership remains predominantly African-American. It holds two national tournaments each year.
The ABA has its own masterpoints system, similar to the ACBL masterpoints system.
Masterpoints or master points are points awarded by bridge organizations to individuals for success in competitive bridge tournaments run under their auspices. Generally, recipients must be members in good standing of the issuing organization. At the international level, competitions and point awards are administered by the World Bridge Federation (WBF); its affiliates at the multi-national level, such as the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), also issue points as do more local organizations such as the English Bridge Union (EBU), and the Deutsche Bridge Verband (DBV) and independent ones such as the American Bridge Association (ABA).
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission "to promote, grow and sustain the game of bridge and serve the bridge-related interests of our Members." Its major activities are:
Edgar Kaplan was an American bridge player and one of the principal contributors to the game. His career spanned six decades and covered every aspect of bridge. He was a teacher, author, editor, administrator, champion player, theorist, expert Vugraph commentator, coach/captain and authority on the laws of the game. He was the editor and publisher of The Bridge World magazine for more than 30 years (1967–1997). With Alfred Sheinwold he developed the Kaplan–Sheinwold bidding system. He was from New York City.
Norman Kay was an American bridge player. He partnered Sidney Silodor until Silodor's death in 1963. With Edgar Kaplan, Kay formed one of the most successful and longest-lasting partnerships in organized bridge. It spanned more than 40 years, and ended with Kaplan's death in 1997. He was from Narberth, Pennsylvania.
North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of different kinds in many classes of competition. Host cities in the United States and Canada are selected several years in advance.
The Laws of Duplicate Bridge is the official rule book of duplicate bridge promulgated by the World Bridge Federation (WBF). The first Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge were published in 1928. They were revised in 1933, 1935, 1943, 1949, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1997, 2007 and 2017. The Laws are effective worldwide for all duplicate bridge tournaments sponsored by WBF, zonal, national and subordinate organizations.
Bridge Base Online (BBO) is the world's largest bridge-playing online platform, with about 10 million monthly visits as of November 2021. Originally created by professional bridge player Fred Gitelman, BBO was first published by Bridge Base, Inc. in 2001 as a Windows-downloadable software offering free online multiplayer bridge rooms for practice and play. Around 2008, BBO was ported to a web application to also support Linux and macOS users, as well as mobile devices.
Barry Crane was a prolific television producer and director, and a bridge player who, at the time of his death had "won more titles than anyone else in the history of the game". According to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), he was "widely recognized as the top matchpoint player of all time" —the tournament format commonly played in private clubs. In 1985 Crane was murdered, a crime that was not solved until 2021.
Robert Glenn Etter is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for four seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and World Football League (WFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs. He played professionally for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons in 1968 and 1969, and the Memphis Southmen of the WFL in 1974 and 1975.
The Mixed Board-a-Match Teams is a bridge competition held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The North American Pairs (NAP) is a set of annual North American championships for pairs contested over two days at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships (NABC). The events are restricted to pairs that have qualified through local, regional and district levels within their ACBL Districts.
The Grand National Teams (GNT) North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have won a blue ribbon qualification and is generally considered, with the Norman Kay Platinum Pairs, as one of the two hardest pairs event on the ACBL calendar.
The Mott-Smith Trophy, named for writer and cryptographer Geoffrey Mott-Smith, is awarded to the player with the best overall individual performance in the Spring Nationals, the spring event of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Goren Trophy is awarded to the player who wins the greatest number of masterpoints at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Norman Kay Platinum Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
Sharon Lou "Kerri" Sanborn is an American bridge player from New York City. She has won major tournaments as Kerri Davis and Kerri Shuman as well. Sometime prior to the 2014 European and World meets, Sanborn ranked 25th among 73 living Women World Grand Masters by world masterpoints (MP) and 7th by placing points that do not decay over time.
Cheating in bridge refers to a deliberate violation of the rules of the game of bridge or other unethical behaviour that is intended to give an unfair advantage to a player or team. Cheating can occur in many forms and can take place before, during, or after a board or game.
Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes are professional bridge players originally from Italy, but since 2011 playing for Monaco. In 2015, they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world respectively.
