The idea of starting the club that would be known as Bridge Club of Houston came about when a bridge club on the north side of Houston was on the verge of closing due to the owner's health problems. Barbara Phillips, JoDene Bond, and Lu Edwards started calling all the bridge players in the area that they knew and organized a meeting to come up with a plan. This group decided that if each of them, about 2 dozen people, could pitch in $500 of seed money, that should be enough to get a new club started. After searching for a location and identifying start up costs, they realized that this was not going to be enough money, so some of the original organizers - Jayne Davis, Nolan Bedford, Russ Long, Judy and Al Cupps, and Jennifer and William Lindner - increased their initial donation to $5,000.
For the first few weeks, the game was played in a Denny's restaurant, but soon the U-Haul center was selected as the first club location. While the space in the U-Haul center was being built out, the center let the club hold games in a temporary space, similar to our "Camp BCoH" quarters of recent history. Members initially lent the club tables, chairs, boards, and bidding boxes, until the club reached a point where they could afford to purchase those necessities.
Sherry Gerdes, one of the Founders, served as club manager and director, and she did a great job. She usually played while directing, and she was assisted by a non player serving as scorekeeper, gathering the pickup slips and entering the results into the computer.
Most of the Founders are still playing in the Unit and are listed in our Membership list, but several who are not include:
Jayne Davis, Lu Edwards, JoDene Bond, Sherry Gerdes, and Natalie Green.
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