Rebecca Brown
New ACBL Region 9 Director
Rebecca Brown, Lakeway, Unit 207, has replaced the retired Paul Cuneo as Region 9 Director on the ACBL Board of Directors, representing Districts 15 and 16. Her term began January 1, 2025. “Paul Cuneo is an impossible act to follow, but I am prepared to work very hard!” she says.
After Cuneo announced he would not seek another term Rebecca reached out to friends in the bridge world, offering her support if they applied. At some point one of her potential candidates asked her why she didn’t consider running for the position. She thought, “Why not?”
2025 Grand National Teams
By Scott Nason​
The GNT 2025 is coming. There is no unit qualifying required, so you can proceed straight to district finals. Get your team together and meet us in Houston or Dallas in the Spring. There are four levels that will compete in the GNT District Finals. The four winners of that event (and possibly more – see below) go on to compete at the GNT finals in Philadelphia in July 2025. The top flight – the Championship Flight – is open to anyone who is an ACBL member in good standing and who resided in District 16 as of September 1, 2024. In order to play in Flight A, each member of the team must also have had fewer than 6000 masterpoints as of the August 6, 2024 posting. For Flight B the cutoff is 3000 points, and Flight C is limited to Non-Life Masters with fewer than 750 points. Each team may consist of four, five or six players, but each player must be eligible for the flight in which the team is competing.
District 16 Star Award
The District 16 Star Award was established in 1995 (formerly the Texas Star Award). This award honors unit volunteers who work steadfastly at the unit level to promote bridge, and to further unit activities. Selection is made only by the unit board of each unit and the awards are traditionally presented during the Houston Lone Star Regional in late January.
Much like the Oswald and Jim Jacoby Service Award, the District Star Award is meant to go to a worthy volunteer. Unlike the Jacoby Award, it goes to a unit level workers for service performed in their own units. The decision on who is to get the award in a particular unit is left to the board of directors of that unit. The unit board then merely informs the District Star Award Committee of their decision. Guidelines for the District 16 Star Award are posted here. For more information, contact the Awards Chairman Chair, Jerry Harrington: m_jharrington@yahoo.com
New Recruitment
Games from ACBL
By Lauri Laufman, Membership Chair
ACBL has designed three new programs to entice your community to become bridge players: Bridge Ambassador Program, Come Play Cards with Us and PickleBridge. Click on the program’s name to learn more about each of these – they’ve been designed to help you with your recruitment efforts.
If you initiate any of the new programs or hold some cool event for your members and/or to boost membership, please share the details and feedback received.
D16 2025 NAP District Winners
All are eligible to compete in the NAP National Finals at the Spring NABC in Memphis.
Flight A Unlimited
1. Sally Wheeler - Buddy Hanby, Houston
2. Jack LaVigne - Thomas Rush, Houston
3. Sam Dinkin - Finn Kolesnik, Austin
Flight B 0-2500
1. Yin Peng - James Zhan, Sugar Land
2. Stuart Litwin, Round Rock, Linda Gaston, Pflugerville
3. Charlie Chen - Andrew Chen, Austin
4. Kyo Chen - Hua Chen, Sugar Land
Flight C 0-500 NLM
1. Diana Clive - Peter Clive, Fort Worth
2. Mary Keeney - Karen Atchley, Austin
3. Paul Alford - MacDonald Kempf, Austin
4. Pam Beck - Gary Koenig, Austin
