The San Antonio Bridge League, Unit 172,

is delighted to honor Rebecca Brown with the District 16 Star Award for 2018.

Rebecca became active in Unit 172 management in 2010 and has been a mainstay of our

Board of Directors (BOD), serving as Secretary, Vice President, and, most recently, as President for the last four years.

While serving on our board, she also has had a big impact on District 16 management,

serving

as Unit 172 representative to their BOD as Executive Secretary (2012 – 2015),

1st VP (2015 -2017)

and President (2017 – present).

Trained as a professional lawyer, psy-chologist, and mediator -- Rebecca’s leadership has been evident for many years; this recognition is way overdue.

At the bridge table, Rebecca is a formidable opponent and a wonderful partner. Active in the mentee/mentor program, she always encourages newer players to study hard and play in different events. Indefatigable, her fingerprints are all over every unit function we hold.

She chaired last year’s Kerrville Sectional and negotiates all the unit’s hotel contracts for our tournaments. For the last eight years, Rebecca has written the unit’s Scorecard column.

She does a great job and makes it look easy!

Thank you, Re-becca -- we salute you and appreciate all you do for San Antonio bridge.

Bridge has been a major part of Betty’s life since 1983. While living with her husband in Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Japan, she directed, played and taught bridge.

Betty served as a board member for Unit 174 from 1994-96 which ended when she became an ACBL employee. During this time, one of her major accomplishments was updating the ACBL Bridge series textbooks.

In 2002 and 2009 Betty Co-chaired two Nationals.

She has been Education Liaison, Novice coordinator and she developed an Intermediate-Newcomer Program. She also created a “Welcome to Your First Tournament” package for our unit. Betty finds time to support the district and the ACBL nationally with the fol-lowing:

Master Teacher since 2003

ACBL employee for 20 years

Presently President of ABTA

Serves on the Board of Governors

Member of the Charity and Good-will Committee

Trustee of The ACBL Education Foundation

Created the unit Growth Seminar

TAP trainer and coordinator for District 16

If Betty is not in the forefront of work-ing for bridge, she’s in the background offering support, ideas and direction.

I am proud to announce that Cathie Tucker is our 2018 Texas Star award winner.

Cathie has literally held just about every position there is to hold in Unit 176.

She has served on the board over three terms in the last 15 years holding many offices including Vice President and President.

She managed the unit game for years and served as tourna-ment chair for several sectionals as well as co-chairing the Regional and assisting with National tournaments. She orchestrated the Unit Christmas Party which has become a signature Unit event, not only for the fun, food and prizes but also includes fund-raising for various charities.

We ask – Cathie answers with a re-sounding “Of course I'll do it”.

Thank you, Cathie, for all those jobs well done.

Unit 176 is proud to present you with this year's Texas Star.

David Pearlman is the quintessential get-everything-done without fanfare person and Unit 183’s Texas Star awardee for 2018.

He is our legal guru and go-to-person for everything ACBL.

He knows the rules, policies and procedures, he has read the fine print and understands it! And bridge? He is a Diamond Life Master and perennial Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs top finisher.

David has served the Unit as

President,

Secretary,

Recorder,

Chair of By-laws and Standing Rules, and Unit Games.

He edits the monthly newslet-ter, maintains electronic rosters and records to produce a membership di-rectory and election newsletter.

A valuable member indeed!

Many thanks David for all you do to keep our Unit organized and running efficiently and accurately.

Our nominee for the Texas Star Award this year is Melissa Plumb.

Melissa has become one of the most valued members of our Unit.

She has become a Club Director and directs at least one game a week, is Secretary of our Board of Directors, does an out-standing job writing for the Scorecard about the unit and on top of all this is always willing to take on any jobs - mopping floors, cleaning windows, helping clean up after our games and just about anything that needs doing Melissa volunteers to take care of it.

She is very well liked by all our players and is always willing to play with new players should they need partners.

We wish we had a dozen or more like her here in Corpus.

She is certainly a worthy candidate for the Texas Star Award.

Sue Myers assumed Club Manager duties April 1, 2018, during a challenging change from Director managed to Unit managed games.

Little did she know the obstacles before her, and armed only with a Club Manager Handbook, she has met them all with courage, tact, humor, and determina-tion. When asked to take the job, she never blinked, hesitated, or asked, “Why would I want to do all that work and not get paid?”.

Not only does she play at the Club six times weekly, she will play with anyone who needs a partner. Sue is a virtual dynamo keep-ing track of every detail at the Bridge Center.

She ensures we have a director for each game, takes player fees, brews coffee, makes and receives countless phone calls, keeps track of keys, provides food for our 299’er games, staffs the kitchen, and keeps the peace.

Un-afraid of confrontation, she can calm any situation with her direct, no non-sense approach yet is acutely aware of those in need of a helping hand or a shoulder on which to cry. She has been absolute bedrock as we have navigated uncharted territory.

Unit 197 is grateful for the many and varied contributions Sue makes to the Unit.

Congratulations, Sue, for the Texas Star Award; you are a winner if ever there was one!

E. W. Sweeney enjoyed weekly bridge games at the Best Years Senior Center before venturing to the Beaumont Bridge Studio in 2008.

That was when his life changed! E. W. quickly be-came involved in all aspects of the game. When he graduated from the 0-50 Limited Game, he filled in as a guaranteed partner for novices; when he graduated from the 0-300 Limited Game, he did the same.

He took all new players under his wing and en-couraged them to play regularly, never turning down anyone who asked him to play.

His nurturing spirit delayed his advancement to higher ranks, but he earned Life Master status in 2016.

Along the way he served as a member and/or officer on the U201 Board for ten years, chaired several sectionals, and volunteered for virtually every committee.

Carolyn Oliver noted that “E. W. was the one person that talked to me regularly and made me feel welcomed the first six months I began bridge.

He sat at the front desk, and I would make a B-line to sit next to him.” E. W. truly “works stead-fastly at the Unit level to promote bridge and further Unit activities.”

When Rachell was elected to the Unit board, she was already known for her professional editing skills.

She quickly got busy proofreading flyers and edit-ing Scorecard articles.

What we didn't know was that was only a small part of her skill set.

She has served as hospi-tality chair, tournament chair, Vice President and President of the Unit.

Recently, she has focused on clearly defining roles and responsibilities for our Unit leaders.

Her engaging leader-ship style has gained the commitment of our team to become the best we can be.

We are proud to recognize her as our Texas Star.

The Greater Permian Basin Unit is proud to announce the selection of Patti Heard as our Texas Star recipi-ent. Patti served as President of our Midland Club for two years and has been a faithful member of our Board of Directors for many more.

She was chosen as Goodwill Ambassador from the Midland Club in 2017.

Patti is involved in our club in many ways. She shuffles boards, organizes the Wednesday game on a weekly basis, and arranges the Salad Luncheon monthly.

She has also assisted with bridge lessons at a local middle school.

Patti has volunteered to be the Pair Coordinator for our Midland Sectional Tournament the last few years as well as to assist with set-up and food prepa-rations. Her greatest gift however is her infectious laugh and caring personality.

Patti is always willing to play if she is needed and she welcomes everyone who chooses to play.

Her love of bridge, her friendly personality, and incredible organizational skills have helped make our Club and Unit a star in West Texas.

Congratulations Patti!

Beverly Walker has been chosen by Unit 224 to receive the Texas Star for 2018.

The Board of Directors for Ft. Phantom Unit 224, District 16, com-prised of Abilene, Snyder, Sweetwater and Stephenville, Texas, has unami-ously selected Beverly to receive this honor because, among other things, she has worked diligently at the unit level and has reflected great credit upon our unit.

Beverly is well known within the area and is an asset for our unit. Beverly has served our unit in just about every capacity.

She is a director for several of our games and she works diligently to organize the game by personally contacting potential players and keeping everyone informed.

She knows everybody and is interested in each person.

She brings a personal touch to our games. Beverly will do whatever is necessary to promote bridge in our unit.

She will help new players, work in the kitchen, help with our tournaments, bring food, help clean up and so on and so forth. Beverly is our go to person for what-ever needs doing. She gets the job done and does it cheerfully.

She not only makes it available for us to play bridge but to enjoy playing bridge with her.

She is ethical and respected by those who are at her table or in her games.

She is an ambassador for the games because she enjoys bridge and those who play it.

Accordingly, Unit 224 proudly nomi-nates Beverly Walker as our recipient of the Texas Star for Unit 224 for 2018. It is an honor that she well de-serves. Respectfully submitted: Board of Directors

Carol Kinsey, a relatively newcomer to duplicate bridge, is always willing to give of her time and energy to help promote bridge in East Texas Unit 225. Born in Cleburne, Texas, Carol has lived in Longview most of her life when not in North Carolina or Tennessee.

She began her working career with Eastman Chemical Company as a busi-ness librarian and finished as a market-ing communications manager.

Her soon-to-be husband, Pat, taught her the game of bridge in 1982. For years, she was an occasional, party bridge player until being introduced to duplicate in 2011.

After taking lessons on “How to Bid in the 21st Century,” from Mike Graham at the Longview Duplicate Bridge Club, she joined ACBL and began playing regularly with her long-time friend Sherry Kay Russell.

In 2017, she decided to advance her game by taking lessons on 2/1 and began playing with Linda Harrison, her primary partner today.

she was appointed to the Unit 225 Board of Directors and assumed the role of web-master for its website.

Carol took the website to a whole new level adding timely and useful information and making the design easier to read and navigate.

She continues to spend hours each week keeping the site current and interesting.

In addition to those hours, Carol can be counted on to assist at setup and tear down of local tournaments and to serve in other capacities whenever called upon.

Unit 225 was happy to award Carol the Texas Star Award for promoting bridge on the local, club and unit levels with her upbeat attitude and website skills.

Joan Cation, owner/manager of the Monday Slammers' Club in Waco and the Stillwell Bridge Club has promoted and built each into successful game venues.

She encourages the new and old mem-bers while setting a great example at the table. She always announces upcoming special games, events, and tournaments advertising benefits of each. Many tournament players have attended because of Joan's quiet urg-ing.

Joan, unfortunately, suffers from a variety of medical problems, making it harder than usual to perform everyday activities easily. Yet, she drives back and forth alone on game days, always ready to welcome everyone with a smile on her face. She has given lessons to beginners, encouraging them to play "up".

She is organized and competent and helpful to answer questions and offer solutions in a polite manner.

Joan is a pleasure to play with or against, is deserving and would repre-sent our unit proudly.

This Award would serve a sincere "thank you" from the Unit 233 bridge players to a deserving recipient.