The latest monthly ACBL master race tallies have been up for more
than a week and I didn't even have to look at them to know that I’d lost my
place atop the Ruby Life Masters in the Unit 116 Ace of Clubs derby.
All through April, I had my eye on Allen Beroza, who was
fractionally behind me a month ago, and he pulled ahead in the final week. What
I didn’t realize is that he wasn’t the only horse on the track.
Unit 116 (Buffalo only), Ace of Clubs (club
play only), Ruby Life Masters (players with 1,500 to 2,500 points). In January, I was first. In February, I slipped
to fifth. In March, I narrowly climbed back to the top. Now I’m not second, not
third, but fourth. Here are the top 10:
First is David Millward, 79.13, still down
in Florida apparently, but making himself felt up North. He’s third among all
players in the unit. Martin Pieterse, the dark horse here, is up from fourth
place with an 18-point month, 48.03. Allen Beroza retreats to third with
47.41. Then there’s me with 44.64. I’ve also slipped from sixth overall in
the unit down to 12th.
Ken Meier moves up one notch to fifth place
with 43.42. Mike Silverman, tied for second with Allen Beroza a month ago,
spent a few weeks in Florida and now is sixth with 39.66.
Gene Finton, also still down South, is seventh with 35.90, while
Fred Yellen slips from fifth to eighth with 35.76. Rounding out the Top 10 are
Dorothy May, 30.76; and Elaine Kurasiewicz, 24.01.
Unit 116, Ace of Clubs overall. Airport Bridge Club manager Bill Finkelstein
arranged for veteran expert players Alan Greer and Nancy Wolstoncroft to renew
their long-dormant memberships in the ACBL, predicting that they would lead the
pack among club players. He’s right, though it’s still a jolt to see them on
top of the list.
Alan Greer has 120.77 points, Nancy Wolstoncroft has 83.47. Then
comes Ruby Life Master leader David Millward with his 79.13.
Last month’s leader John Ziemer, now fourth with 74.28, still has
a commanding lead over the next bunch of players. Bud Seidenberg, third last
month, is fifth with 50.56. Barbara Libby, previously second, is sixth with
50.43.
The next group has shuffled since last month. Seventh is Martin
Pieterse, 48.03; then it’s Allen Beroza, 47.41; Gay Simpson, 46.60; Liz Clark,
45.50; Jim Easton, 44.66; me, 44.64; John and Martha Welte, 43.55; Ken Meier,
43.42; Jay Levy, 43.28; Mike Ryan, 42.34; Judi Marshall, 40.97; Mike Silverman,
39.66; and Marilyn Wortzman, 39.10.
Moving on to the Mini-McKenney races, which count all points earned everywhere, I
have 63.10, up 16.82 from March. But I’m no longer second among Ruby Life
Masters in Unit 116. I’m fifth.
Continuing way out in front is Davis Heussler, adding another 63+
points to register 164.05. He's also tops among all Unit 116 players. I'm 24th
overall, down from 19th.
Second is the newly-materialized David Millward with 105.47
(seventh overall). Then it's Ken Meier, third with 83.74 (up from 20th to 14th overall,
thanks to that trip to the Gatlinburg Regional); Fred Yellen, 63.92 (up from
35th to 23rd); and me with 63.10.
The next fivesome includes Allen Beroza, 50.62 (38th); Martin
Pieterse, 49.40 (40th); Elaine Kurasiewicz, 41.29 (43rd); Mike Silverman, 39.66
(44th); and Gene Finton, 35.90 (49th).
Among all players in Unit 116, the Mini-McKenney leader once again
is Davis Heussler with 164.05, far surpassing the man who temporarily displaced
him a month ago, Saleh Fetouh, who is second with 131.89.
Alan Greer, who has only club points, is third with 120.77,
followed by Linda Burroughsford, 115.11; Jay Levy, 114.10; John Ziemer, 109.74;
David Millward, 105.47; and Sandi England, 104.77. The Weltes round out the top
10 with 97.12.
Now let’s widen our horizons.
District 5
(Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh) Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters. I'm a yo-yo on this list. Third in January,
ninth in February, third in March, eighth in April.
David Millward, still down in Florida with 79.13 points, has
knocked off the February-March leader, Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa.,
who has 57.75. Millward is fourth among all District 5 players. Goulding has
fallen from eighth to 12th.
Chantal Whitney of Bratenhahl, Ohio, (interesting municipality,
look it up), leaps to third with 53.19 (is she another snowbird accumulating
big points in Florida?), bumping Susan Konig of Bridgeville, Pa., to fourth
with 50.45. They're 17th and 21st overall in the district.
Then the Unit 116 players start popping in. It's Martin Pieterse,
48.03 (27th overall); Allen Beroza, 47.41 (28th); Joane D'Antonio of Sewickley,
Pa., 46.67 (31st); moi, 44.64 (down from 28th to 39th); Ken Meier, 43.42 (43rd)
and Garnet Depner of Jeannette, Pa., 41.71 (48th).
Overall Ace of Clubbers in District 5 look like this: Buffalo's Alan Greer rules with
120.77. Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh has a good month (35 points) and holds
onto second place with 99.60. Then it's two more new arrivals from Buffalo –
Nancy Wolstoncroft, third with 83.47, and David Millward fourth with his 79.13.
Last month's leader, Richard Katz of North Versailles, Pa., falls to fifth with
76.43.
Those three new additions drop Unit 116’s John Ziemer from third
to sixth with 74.28. Then it's Pittsburghers Arlene Port with 71.21 and Barbara
Belardi with 68.38. Patricia Katz of Pittsburgh, fourth last month, now is
tenth with 64.80, edged out of ninth by D. Pierce of Parkersburg, W. Va., with 64.88.
Only
other Unit 116 player in the Top 20 is Bud Seidenberg, in 20th place with
50.56. Three more – Barbara Libby,
Martin Pieterse and Allen Beroza – come in between 21st and 30th.
Now for the District 5 Mini-McKenney, Ruby
Life Masters. Here the leader continues to be our own David Heussler with 164.05.
He's also bounced back from tenth to fifth among all players in the district.
The
other leaders include: Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., 140.71 (up from 13th
to ninth overall); David Millward, 105.47 (23rd); Craig Biddle of Pittsburgh, 90.72
(37th); Ken Meier, 83.74 (44th); Wayne Heritage of North Olmsted, Ohio, 80.96
(50th); Leroy Hackenberg II of Pittsburgh, 78.05 (55th); Buffalo's Fred Yellen,
63.92 (84th); moi, 63.10 (85th); and Jack Hawthorne of Valencia, Pa., 62.08 (88th).
Mini-McKenney leader among all District 5
players continues to be Sue Lan
Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio, adding 85 points in April to reach 319.68.
Then it’s Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, with 195.02; Reanette
Frobouck of Pittsburgh, 179.15; Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood, Ohio, 166.17;
and Unit 116's Davis Heussler, 164.05.
After that, it's Don Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, 163.29; Robert
Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, 142.98; William Lindgren of Slippery Rock, Pa.,
142.49; Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., 140.71; and Buffalo's Saleh Fetouh,
131.89. In all, 27 players are in triple digits.
Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.
Big month for Anna Maxcine Thacker of Palm Coast, Fla.
She collected 50 and a fraction points to jump from sixth to first place with
126.18. Paul Hassett of The Villages, Fla., moves up from third to second with
115.27, while last month's leader, Russ Pearly, also The Villages, sits third
with 112.44.
Brian Breckenridge of Corvallis, Ore., tenth a month ago, is
fourth with 105.53. Rounding out the top five and the last of the centarians is
Michael Rosen of Freehold, N.J., down three places with 100.54.
After that, it's Richard Seidman of Orlando, Fla., a new entry to
the top ten with 98.79; Mason Barge of Atlanta, 97.64; Michael Fishman of Great
Neck, N.Y., 97.03; Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill., with 96.83; and Michael
Boreson of Kalispell, Mont., with 95.49.
Unit 116 leader David Millward is 32nd. Other local notables
include Martin Pieterse, 320th; Allen Beroza, 335th; myself, moving up from a
tie for 444th to 411th. Last Buffalo player is Ken Meier, 455th. The list cuts
off at 42.39.
Ace of Clubs, all players, nationwide. Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta has a 60-point month
to remain far ahead of the field with 260.43. Also enjoying a 60-point month is
Bella Ionis-Sorren of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., now second with 183.32. A month
ago she was seventh. She bumped Robert Epstein of Atlanta back to third with
177.45.
Then come Irva Neyhart of Corvallis, Ore., 166.51; Roberta
Trayman of Naples, Fla., 163.78; En Xie of St. Louis, 162.77; Diane Hurt and
Edgar Hurt Jr., both of Laguna Woods, Calif., both with 158.97; James Rhoden of
St. Augustine, Fla., 155.91; and Michael Dalton of Palm Coast, Fla., 153.47.
Unit 116’s Alan Greer is 44th (and here in mid-May, he has 20+ more points this month). Nancy Wolstoncroft is 314th. David Millward
is 403rd. And our lone representative a month ago, John Ziemer, who was in 336th place, now is a fraction below the cutoff point of 74.58 for this list of 500 names.
Onward
to Mini-McKenney, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.
Still way out in front is Robert L.
McClendon of Ponte Vedra, Fla., adding 96 more points to reach
666.17. Mary Ose of Sacramento, Calif, who had an 81-point month, is
a little more secure in second place this time.
Alex Khrakovsky of Columbus, Ohio, has an 85-point month and leapfrogs
to third place with 297.65. Still sitting fourth is someone we’ve played
against, Joel Wooldridge’s sometimes partner Junko Hemus
of Windermere, Fla., who added only 35 points in reaching 258.33.
Then it’s Mason Barge of Atlanta, 244.42; Kevin Castner of
Kentfield, Calif., 231.18; Sherry Spalding Fardie of Port
Orange, Fla., 229.55; Sabrina Miles of Mansfield, Mass., 217.68; Ken
Brinkman of Highland Village, Texas, 215.35; and Russ Pearly of The
Villages, Fla., 214.44.
Unit 116’s Davis Heussler, who was 51st last month, bounces back
to 30th with his 164.05. David Millward is 154th. Ken Meier is 318th. The list
ends at 70.39. My 63.10 doesn't cut it.
And now for the really heavy hitters, the
Mini-McKenney leaders overall.
This
time there are four players in four figures. Joe Grue of New York City sits on
top for the third straight month with 1,270.90. Mark Itabashi of Murrieta,
Calif., continues second with 1,104.19.
Brad Moss of Denver pushes up from fifth to third with 1,019.81
and Kevin Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., continues fourth with 1,005.08.
Then it's Shan Huang, also from Melbourne, with 901.13; January
leader Geoff Hampson of Las Vegas, dropping from third to sixth with 894.62; John
Hurd of New York City, 796.05; Alex Hudson of Raleigh, N.C., 709.12; Justin
Lall of Charlotte, N.C., 671.15; and Robert L. McClendon of Ponte Vedra, Fla., 666.17.
Familiar names: Former Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge slips from 30th to 41st
with 459.34; District 5 leader Sue Lan Ma is up from 131st to 109th with her 319.68.
No Unit 116 people here. This list cuts off at 170.62.
