. . . AND NOW THERE ARE FIVE By Pat Samuels
This
article is dated (was written several years ago), represents the state of affairs at the
time of the inception of Unit 102. Dated it may be, but offers an insight into a
point in time, by now well past, when our success as a Unit hung very much in
the balance.
WebMaster
Once upon a time the state of
Florida (district nine in bridge speak) started as one very large area
known as unit 128. In 1971, a few venturesome members in Orlando sought their
independence from unit
128, were victorious and became unit 240. Ten years later, Fort Lauderdale, now
unit 243, followed suit to
become Florida's third unit; then the Panhandle, unit 219 became 4. It stayed
that way until the year
2000 when Sarasota members decided to take control of their own destiny and unit
102 was born.
As a former president of unit 128 and one of the founders of our new unit, I
shall, at some future date, tell more about the formation of ACBL's newest unit and attempt to put it
in its proper historical
context. In the interim, let me congratulate the unit's very first board of
directors, expected to guide us into the future.
The president is Arnie Malasky, who started his bridge career at Cornell
and stayed active during
the 60s and early 70s both as a player, board member, and treasurer of the
Greater New York Bridge
Association. His work as an actuary and benefits consultant kept him busy until
1999, when, with wife
Ronnie, he moved to Longboat Key. His goals this year are "to help the unit
establish itself as a premier
attraction for its tournaments; to bring new events to Sarasota; and to get unit
102 organized and
operating and on a sound financial footing."
Mike Kassay, a diamond life master, serves as the board's vice-president
and is responsible for
the unit's impressive new web site (www.unit102.com.) Born in Hungary, Mike won
five Hungarian
National Bridge Titles, was on the Hungarian International Team in 1956 and was
part of the group
organizing the revival of bridge in Hungary after WWII. He arrived in the States
after (and having been
involved in) the Hungarian revolution of '56, joining a consulting engineering
firm and is still a member
thereof... With wife Mary, he moved to Sarasota in 1989, and hopes to attain
Grand Master status.
The driving force behind the formation of unit 102 is Gen Geiger, board
secretary and former
parliamentarian for Unit 128. Born in France, early childhood in Canada and
Wisconsin, many years in
Hawaii where she served as president of her bridge unit, Gen moved to Sarasota
in 1998 with husband
Chris Niemann. Unit 102 became a reality because of this former bridge teacher's
persistence. She
worked the hardest in its formation, never becoming discouraged by what at
times, seemed
insurmountable obstacles.
The unit's new treasurer, June Plunkett, is used to keeping busy, dealing
with a multitude of
details. Before moving to Sarasota in June of 1998 from Connecticut, she started
her bridge career while
raising five children as a single parent, working full time, and attending
school. Whew. She graduated
from Sacred Heart University with an accounting degree. Her goal is to see
"everyone friendlier" on the
bridge scene.
From the White House to Vi Fackler's game is quite a journey, but to Maureen
Moriarty, it's
routine. A cancer survivor and a former sales manager for Liz Claiborne in New
York, Maureen now lives
in Nokomis. It was 1965 when her date, a friend of Chuck Robb's, asked her to
play bridge at the White
House with Linda Johnson and Chuck. As she recalls, they lost $2 and that was
the end of her bridge
career until she began again with Vi Fackler's novice lessons in 1998.
Bette Cohn, a national bridge champion and member of national Goodwill
and charity
committees, is another player who worked from the get-go for the new unit. She
was one of the first to
speak out, traveling to area clubs, soliciting signatures, and donating both her
condo and bridge club for
meetings. Bette, mother of three and grandmother of six, still works full time
during tax season, owns,
operates and directs her popular Thursday luncheon bridge game, and, in her
spare time, is a caterer
extraordinaire.
Ruth Lonshein and her husband Fred, who celebrated 50 years together last
summer, moved to
Sarasota in 1985 from New Jersey. Their two daughters and four grandsons live in
Virginia, so this gold
life master has time to play bridge daily in nearly all the clubs in the unit.
Ruth, has been, and continues
to be, a fervent worker for unit 102. As Membership Committee Chairman, her goal
is to "recruit as many
new members as I can and help them to enjoy playing bridge."
Dave Wicentowski, a former high school math teacher from New Jersey,
rounds out the group
with his irreverent humor. In the final days of the race for the new unit, word
was passed from ACBL
headquarters, that 100 additional signatures were needed in the next few days.
Dave and his wife, Jane,
took over and, with the help of many Sarasota players, successfully completed the task. Father of three,
Dave moved to this area four years ago. Soon after he began singing with the Key
Chorale, and is slated
to perform with them in Prague, Budapest, and Vienna in June.
