BULLETIN 34-Year-Old Murder of Barry Crane Solved?
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THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE PRESS ASSOCIATION Editor: John Carruthers This Bulletin is published monthly and circulated to members of the International Bridge Press Association, comprising the world’s leading journalists, authors and editors of news, books and articles about contract bridge, with an estimated readership of some BULLETIN 200 million people who enjoy the most widely-played of all card games. www.ibpa.com Bulletin No. 653 June 6, 2019 President 34-Year-Old Murder of Barry Rigal (USA) +1 212 366 4799 Barry Crane Solved? [email protected] Chairman News outlets reported early in May Per Jannersten (Sweden) that an arrest had been made in the [email protected] 1985 muder of television producer/ director and World-Champion bridge Executive Vice-President player Barry Crane. Crane had been David Stern (Australia) bludgeoned and strangled to death in [email protected] his Hollywood home. A 52-year-old Organizational North Carolina man, Edwin Hiatt, was Vice-President & arrested on May 9th after an FBI Bulletin Production fingerprint specialist matched Hiatt’s Manager fingerprint to one found in Crane’s Dilip Gidwani (India) stolen car after the murder. +91 98214 53817 Police in Los Angeles said that Hiatt had admitted to the murder in an interview [email protected] in March. As he was being led into jail in Burke County, North Carolina, Hiatt was Secretary asked by a television reporter if he was the killer. “Anything is possible back then,” Elisabeth van Ettinger Hiatt answered, “I was big into drugs.” FBI investigators also linked Hiatt’s DNA to th (Netherlands) cigarette butts found in Crane’s stolen car. At a court hearing on May 10 , a judge th +31 655 680 120 ordered Hiatt held without bail until his next court appearance on June 7 . [email protected] Crane was renowned in North America as the finest matchpoint player and Treasurer bunny killer of his time. He won the World Mixed Pairs with Kerri Sanborn Richard Solomon (NZ) (then Shuman) in New Orleans in 1978. He won 13 North American Bridge +64 9 232 8494 Championships, 10 of which were pairs events. Crane won the McKenny Race [email protected] (most masterpoints in a calendar year) so many times that the ACBL renamed it in his honour: it’s now the Barry Crane Top 500. He was inducted into the Awards Secretary ACBL Hall of Fame in 1995. Crane had a few idiosyncracies that he insisted on Brent Manley (USA) his partners adopting, for example, finessing for a queen (it lies over the jack) [email protected] and playing for the drop missing king-to-three if the first defender to play followed Membership Secretary with the lower of the two outstanding spot cards. Katie Thorpe (Canada) Crane was responsible for an ACBL rule change that now forbids a player from +1 519 981 9248 playing in two or more events concurrently. Before the rule change, Crane would [email protected] play the first session of a Regional Swiss Teams in the Eastern time zone of the Honorary Auditor U.S., then hop aboard his private jet to fly back to the West Coast (a three-hour Richard Fleet (England) time difference) in time for the second session of a Regional Swiss Teams there. [email protected] As a television director and producer, Crane was involved with many of the Honorary General Counsel most-popular shows of the 1970s and 1980s such as “The Incredible Hulk”, David Harris (England) “Hawaii Five-0”, “The Six Million Dollar Man”, “Mission Impossible”, “CHiPs”, [email protected] “Dallas”, “Wonder Woman” and “Mannix”. President Emeritus Address all IBPA Bulletin correspondence to: JOHN CARRUTHERS Tommy Sandsmark (Norway) 1322 Patricia Blvd., Kingsville, Ontario, N9Y 2R4, CANADA [email protected] Tel: +1 519-733-9247 email: [email protected] 1 The 2019 Open Trials for USA2 Suzi Subeck, Chicago Photo: Stan Subeck Stan Photo: The winners and Team USA2 in Wuhan: Marty Fleisher, Chip Martel, Geoff Hampson, Eric Greco, Brad Moss, Joe Grue Last year’s Trials for USA1 in the Wuhan Bermuda Bowl had a bye to the Quarterfinals. The knockout matches resulted in the NICKELL team (Nick Nickell/Ralph were all two-day, 120-board affairs. Katz, Jeff Meckstroth/Eric Rodwell, Stevie Weinstein/ Round Robin Match 1, Wolfson v. Lo Bobby Levin) winning over LALL (Hemant Lall/Reese Board 6. Dealer East. EW Vul. Milner, Justin Lall/Kevin Bathurst, Zia Mahmood/Jacek [ K J 8 4 Pszczola). ]J 6 4 Zia was back again this year, though with a different { K 10 6 2 team, WOLFSON (Jeff Wolfson/Steve Garner, Joel }A 3 Wooldridge/John Hurd, Zia Mahmood/Michael [ 9 7 6 3 [ Q 10 5 Rosenberg), but still one of the favourites, along with ] Q 10 8 ] A 9 7 3 FLEISHER (Marty Fleisher/Chip Martel, Geoff { J 9 8 7 { Q Hampson/Eric Greco, Brad Moss/Joe Grue). } Q 5 } 10 9 8 4 2 [A 2 Eighteen teams entered; 16 of those played a two-day, ]K 5 2 round robin of 7-board matches to qualify the top 13 { A 5 4 3 teams for Round of 16 play. Those 13, seeded on their } K J 7 6 players’ seeding-point average (based on previous performance), were joined by the FLEISHER team, who West North East South had a bye to that round, based on its performance Wildavsky Garner Doub Wolfson over the past year. The seven winners of the Round of — — Pass 1NT 16 were joined by the ROSENTHAL team (Andrew Pass 2} Pass 2{ Rosenthal/Aaron Silverstein, David Berkowitz/Migry Pass 3NT Pass Pass Zur-Campanile, Eldad Ginossar/Chris Willenken), who Pass 2 Adam Wildavsky led the seven of spades to the four, Round Robin Match 10, Hill v. Lo ten and declarer’s ace. Declarer played a club to the Board 9. Dealer North. EW Vul. ace and a club to the jack and West’s queen. Doug [A K Doub, East, followed with the four-two of clubs, a Hawk ] K Q 10 9 6 Echo, showing an even number of spades remaining. {J 10 It looked as though declarer had nine tricks on passive } Q 8 6 2 defence, so West switched to the ten of hearts. [ J 5 [ Q 6 4 Declarer covered with the jack, forcing Doub’s ace. ] A J 8 4 ] 7 5 3 2 He returned the three of hearts. Declarer did well to { 8 6 3 2 { 7 5 4 go up with the king but Wildavsky unblocked the queen } A K 7 } J 4 3 to prevent declarer from ducking a spade to East’s [ 10 9 8 7 3 2 queen. ]— Declarer instead played a diamond to the ace, cashed { A K Q 9 the king of clubs, and led a diamond to the ten and } 10 9 5 cashed the king as Doub pitched two winning clubs. Declarer exited from dummy with a heart, which Doub West North East South ducked to Wildavsky’s eight so that West could lead a Wildavsky Dwyer Doub Huang 1 2 spade through. Down one. — 1NT Pass 4] Pass 4[ Pass Pass Round Robin Match 6, Lo v. Rajadhyaksha Pass Board 9. Dealer North. EW Vul. 1. 13+-16 [ Q J 9 8 7 4 2. Transfer to spades ] A Q J 3 {— Doug Doub, East, led the three of clubs. In tempo, }6 5 4 Wildavsky won with his ace and returned the club [5 [10 seven. Dwyer followed low, so Doub won with his ] K 8 4 2 ] 9 7 6 5 jack and continued with a club to Wildavsky’s king. { J 10 8 6 3 { A K 9 5 4 There was no way to avoid a loser in trumps and the } J 3 2 } K 10 8 contract failed by a trick. Kevin Dwyer showed his [ A K 6 3 2 class by congratulating his opponents on their fine ]10 defence. {Q 7 2 } A Q 9 7 Round of 16 Segment 6, Wolfson v. Dinkin Board 78. Dealer East. NS Vul. West North East South [ 9 7 6 5 4 3 Koneru Gu Pratap Lo ]4 3 2 — 1[ Pass 2NT1 {6 5 3 Pass 3}2 Pass 3{3 }2 Pass 3[4 Pass 4} Pass 4{ Pass 4NT [ A K J 2 [ Q 10 Pass 5{ Pass 6[ ] A Q 9 6 ] K 7 All Pass { — { K J 10 9 8 7 1. Jacoby 2NT } K J 10 8 6 } A 9 4 2. Minimum [8 3. Asks shortage ] J 10 8 5 4. Short diamonds { A Q 4 2 } Q 7 5 3 Six spades was an easy make, but Gu did it with style: he finessed both ways for the king of hearts! West North East South Declarer ruffed the opening diamond lead, played a Wooldridge Dinkin Hurd Shuster spade to dummy and ran the ten of hearts. He — — 1NT Pass trumped a diamond to his hand and played the 2} Pass 2{ Pass queen of hearts, discarding a club from dummy. West 3} Pass 3{ Pass won the king of hearts and declarer claimed the 3] Pass 3[ Pass rest of the tricks. 4[ Pass 5} Pass On the following deal, Adam Wildavsky made a great 6} Pass Pass Double defensive play. Redouble Pass Pass Pass 3 Most tables played six clubs untouched on this board. Quarterfinals Segment 4 However, John Hurd and Joel Wooldridge found their Wolfson v. Rajadhyaksha way to a 10-IMP pick-up in a most elegant manner. Board 58. Dealer West. NS Vul.