Fred's "Hall Of Fame Speech"

Thanks for posting, Jilly.

What appeared in the Daily Bulletin were some excerpts from my speech. The entire speech follows below (minus some minor changes I ad-libbed during the ceremony).

I don't talk about my other life as a software developer because that was covered when BBO won the Blackwood Award in 2018.

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In my journey to the ACBL Hall of Fame, there is one person who has been there the entire way: Joan Gitelman, my Mom, an ACBL Bronze Life Master. Mom and my amazing sister, Risa Morris, are here from Toronto. Mom and Risa, please stand up!

My parents strongly encouraged me and my siblings to use our brains, to follow our dreams, and to play cards.

I learned bridge at age 16 from two school friends, brothers David and Mark Caplan. It means a lot that my dear friend of 50 years, Mark Caplan, now living in Ireland, is here tonight. Mark - please take a bow!

At first I didn’t find the social or competitive aspects of bridge especially appealing. What I liked was the never-ending supply of beautiful hands, many of which were solvable via clear thinking.

I studied obsessively. The Bridge World magazine was sacred text for me. Kaplan, Rubens, and Kokish were my high priests.

Toronto in the 1980s was a great place for bridge. Audrey Grant and Barbara Seagram each ran a major club.

But it was at another club, Ted Horning’s, where the Caplans and I usually played. Ted was one of Canada’s leading players and took me under his wing. He had two messages, delivered gently, as was his way:

1) You have the potential to be one of the best bridge players in the world
2) If you want a happy and successful life, do not dedicate it to bridge

Being 17 at the time, I did not take either of these messages very seriously.

It was an honor to get to know legendary Canadians like Eric Murray, Sami Kehela, and Shorty Sheardown. Ray Jotcham, who came 2nd in the Spingold in 1964, the year before I was born, was my high school math teacher.

Many Canadians and one non-Canadian, Eric Rodwell, played a significant role in my early development as a player. Eric, then living in Toronto, was extremely generous with his time and wisdom.

One afternoon an amusing young man with long hair and striking natural bridge talent showed up at Ted’s club. His name was Geoff Hampson.

We became friends - a good move by me as people with Geoff’s loyalty, generosity, and decency are few and far between.

It was Barbara’s club where I would have a life-changing encounter in 1988. There was a beautiful and brilliant young woman named Sheri Winestock who played there. For me it was love at first sight (and every subsequent sight).

Since that time Sheri has been my best friend, my constant companion, and my partner in bridge, business, and life. I have no idea where I would be today if it were not for Sheri, but I doubt I would be here - she inspired me to seek out the best in myself. Sheri is part of all of my accomplishments.

In 1991, Mark, Geoff, and I played on Team Canada in the World Junior Championships in Ann Arbor. John Carruthers was our NPC. Canada was the Cinderella story of the tournament, but we lost in the Finals to the USA. It seems like yesterday.

The lives of several Ann Arbor Juniors would become entwined with mine, including my teammate Bronia Jenkins, and champions Brian Platnick, John Diamond, and Debbie Rosenberg. Brad Moss was there too.

The Caplan brothers were shifting focus to their families and careers, but Geoff and I appeared to be in it for the long haul and Canada’s leading players were starting to ask us to play.

Joey Silver was the first Canadian star to be my partner. Like Ted Horning, Joey had two messages, but Joey’s delivery was not exactly gentle, as was his way.

1) Joey insisted that we play only a handful of conventions. Scientific me was surprised by how well that worked.

2) Joey insisted I undergo a fundamental personality transformation. In order to win more I had to care more about winning.

That was something I needed to hear. I listened.

My next Canadian partner was George Mittelman, arguably Canada’s best player at the time. People found it amusing that our names rhymed.

Our debut was at the 1995 Bermuda Bowl in Beijing where Cinderella made a brief reappearance. The end result was my second Silver Medal.

After Canada lost a close Finals to Nickell’s Americans, Edgar himself approached me and said “young man, you are a very good player”. I wasn’t sure about that, but it meant the world to me.

Also in Beijing Jeff Meckstroth suggested Brad Moss as a possible future partner. A couple of years later Brad and I gave it a try.

My last tournament for Canada was the 2002 IOC Grand Prix, held alongside the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Team Cinderella finally made it to the ball, beating Italy in the Semis, and Poland in the Finals, to win the Gold Medal. Joey was my partner. It was magical.

Meanwhile Brad and I were clicking both at and away from the table. We had an amazing 15-year ride together full of hands and experiences that I will never forget. Thank you partner.

My favorite wins with Brad include the 2003 Cavendish Pairs, the 2005 Spingold, and the 2010 Rosenblum where we became World Champions.

Geoff Hampson and Eric Greco were frequently our teammates. That was lucky. Also lucky was that my team almost always had a strong sponsor. Special thanks to Roy Welland, Russ Ekeblad, John Diamond, and Les Amoils.

Without such high-quality partners and teammates, I would not be in the Hall of Fame.

Winning the Rosenblum completed a 20-year circle in that five of our six players, myself, Brad, Geoff, Platnick and Diamond had played in Ann Arbor as Juniors. Our sixth, Eric Greco, was somewhat younger.

But becoming a World Champion was the beginning of the end for me. Brad was more enthusiastic than ever, but the time required for being serious about bridge was becoming increasingly difficult for me to find. It was time to step aside.

Nowadays Brad and the incredible Joe Grue are my favorite pair to watch. Except for Gail, Brad Moss has no greater fan than me.

A special moment years later was winning the 2017 Yeh Brothers Cup playing with my old mentor Eric Kokish.

In 2019 I won the Grand National Teams playing with Sheri on a Las Vegas-based team dominated by ex-Torontonians. Vegas has a vibrant high-level bridge community that includes many good friends. Big shout out to the godparents of bridge in our city: Marc and Brenda Jacobus who have welcomed and helped settle many young players (including me and Sheri in 2002).

An older circle started to close in 2017 at the Nationals in Toronto where I ran into the Caplan brothers for the first time in a long while. They now had more time for bridge, but tragedy soon struck: David Caplan, only 54, died in an accident.

The shock of David’s passing helped bring me and Mark closer together - we enjoyed playing and chatting online during Covid so we tried live bridge, winning Canada’s team trials in 2023 to qualify for the Bermuda Bowl in Morocco. We played the in Olympiad in Argentina the next year. Much thanks to Mark and our teammates for some great experiences.

I’ve much enjoyed teaming with good friends in major events in recent years. Thanks Uday, Christal, Debbie, Max, Billy and Bronia.

My story is in no small part a love story. My love, Sheri, has also been my main bridge partner since my retirement as a professional player. During that time she has improved to such an extent that, annoyingly, she now notices my mistakes, occasionally even before I do.

Let me close with a big thank you to my fellow competitors - the leading Canadian and American players of the past 40 years. You set fine examples for me with both your play and your behavior. Friendship, good sportsmanship and strong ethics were the norm in the many Canadian and US team trials that I have played in.

My admiration for the electorate makes my ACBL Hall of Fame induction especially meaningful. Thank you.

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