At the end of December 20223, Sun Lakes Duplicate Bridge Club completed its second full year of in-person games since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.  Annual awards for 2023 were presented on Feb 20 and Feb 27. 

The Don Krogh Cup is awarded annually for exceptional service to the club during the just-completed year.  This year the award means far more than that.  Lindsay Cantoni is the winner. 

At the end of December, Lindsay officially completed fourteen total years as a club Board member.  Beginning in 2007, she was elected and served as Secretary for about three years.  She came back on the Board in 2012 again as Secretary, then Vice President.  Since she was not challenged enough, she accepted the Treasurer job in 2014 where she served continuously through 2023.  Stop and think about that for a moment.  What does it take to personally count and deposit about $60,000 each year, overwhelmingly in small bills, that come in four times a week for nearly fifty-two weeks a year?  And then there is the writing and recording of checks for club expenses twelve months a year.  Over and above the Treasurer duties, Lindsay has also served as our volunteer Empathy lead, sending Get Well and Sympathy notes from the club to all members enduring serious health issues and losses of close loved ones.

Lindsay richly deserves the 2023 service award, but she only gets to keep that trophy until the end of this year.  Because of her exceptionally long and dedicated service, the Board wanted to honor Lindsay with a special gift, an engraved vase of flowers.  The vase is engraved as follows:

Sun Lakes DBC Honors

Lindsay Cantoni

14 Years 

Outstanding Service

Trophies for the highest number of 2023 duplicate bridge masterpoints in three specific ranges of experience were presented by Jim Utter on Feb 27.   Espy Cup (started year < 100 points):  Gordon Tam; Perkins Cup (started year < 1,000 points):  Frank Bost, Flagg Cup (started year < 2,500 points): Susan Kraght.  See Award History document under Homepage Menu - Information for full eligibility requirements and additional player recognition information.

Masterpoint accomplishments in other categories will also recognized.  A record of current and past awards and recognition is posted on the website under the homepage menu item "Information".

Karin Hansen has successfully recruited a fine slate of volunteers to deliver free pre-game mini-lessons on Tuesdays at 12:30pm for several more weeks.

Buy your entry before 12:30.  The mini-lessons will be held in the back room unless that room is otherwise in use by the church.

The schedule is posted at the church during games.

The major contributions to bridge by Maria Davis have been recognized at the ACBL District 17 level through her designation as a District 17 Goodwill Ambassador. The award was announced by Jim Utter on March 2nd at the morning and afternoon games.  Jim was representing Lakin HInes, Unit 351 President and Unit Representative to D17.

Here's is the March 2 announcement.    

In 2011, District 17 established a Goodwill Committee and Charter to recognize D17 members in good standing who exemplify congeniality and ethical behavior.

Committee members subscribe to the ACBL Goodwill slogan, “It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.”

This year’s recipient for the Goodwill Ambassador from Unit 351 is Maria Davis. Maria, will you please come up and receive your award?

If you will bear with me, I want to pass along some background on Maria.  I hope she’ll forgive any inaccurate details.

Maria Davis is a key figure in our bridge world. Going back to her beginnings, she was born and raised in Queens, New York. After graduating from Queens College, she went on to Yeshiva University where she earned a PhD in molecular biology. Her spouse, Stuart Davis, was in the Air Force during their early married life, which led to time spent in northern Maine and Syracuse, New York. Then they resided for ten years in New Jersey before moving to Arizona in 2009. At some earlier point, Maria and her husband Stuart had taken an introductory bridge class. That’s where the seed was planted for Maria, although Stuart was not taken with the game! In Sun Lakes, Maria began bridge in earnest. She soon discovered Gordon Markham’s novice class and the 99er game, and then was off and running.  She took all six bridge classes from FUN da MENTAL Bridge, Gordon’s teaching organization, culminating with 2 Over 1 Game Force in January 2014 and she got involved with assisting Gordon and Kath.  After assisting Gordon for several years, she began teaching bridge herself and became an ACBL-accredited teacher. She also qualified to be a bridge director.

In 2016, Gordon had a Beginning Bridge Class scheduled when he and Kath were offered an opportunity to teach bridge on a cruise ship.  Gordon passed the scheduled class to Maria, "Ready or Not", and she has been teaching full time since then.

On October 6th, 2016, Maria, together with special friend and longtime bridge partner Anne Newman, volunteered to run and direct the Thursday morning 99er coaching game for new players, despite receiving only meager director compensation. Here players have access to personalized instruction, enjoy a weekly mini-lesson and often get to play hands generated by Maria to reinforce the lesson. New players are made to feel welcome and comfortable. On a personal note, says Anne Newman: “Behind that reserved demeanor is a charming, loyal and dedicated woman with a keen sense of humor”. She has a variety of interests and never does anything halfway. Our bridge community is indeed fortunate to have Maria involved! Her ongoing dedication to teaching new players is invaluable to the future of bridge.

Maria now has assumed Operational Control over the FUN da MENTAL Bridge Classes at Sun Lakes.  Here is a quote from Gordon:  “She schedules the classes, arranges for classrooms, assigns instructors (Gordon, Karin, & Maria) and does the Publicity.  Never an error.  Never even a glitch.  Maria's planning and execution is always flawless.”

There is absolutely no doubt that Maria is highly deserving of this special recognition as District 17 Bridge Ambassador.  You can expect to see this honor publicized in the May issue of the D17 newsletter.

Club members with 100+ masterpoints who bring a new player to the Novice (99er) Thursday morning game and partner with the "recruit" that morning will receive a "Free Play" for a limited or Open game at the club.  The recruit will pay the $10.00 non-member fee.  The member will play free that morning but will not be eligible for points in the novice game.