John R. Crawford

American backgammon and bridge player

John Yocum Randolph Crawford
Born	August 4, 1915 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Died	February 14, 1976 Manhattan
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Bridge and Backgammon Player

John Yocum Randolph Crawford^[1] (August 4, 1915 – February 14, 1976) was an American bridge and backgammon player.

In bridge, he was a member of United States teams that won the first three Bermuda Bowls, or world teams championships, in 1950, 1951 and 1953; a wholly new team represented the US in 1954. In backgammon, Crawford is known as the inventor of the "Crawford rule", a regulation that restricts use of the doubling die in match play.

Life

Of Scots descent, the younger son of Andrew Wright Crawford Sr. (1873–1929), a town planner, he was born at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and died in Manhattan aged 60. He was married to Carol Stolkin, née Ross, also a celebrated backgammon player.^[2]

Books

Canasta (New York: JCS Associates, 1950; London: Faber, 1951)
Samba, three-deck canasta (Doubleday, 1951)
How to be a consistent winner in the most popular card games (Doubleday, 1953); revised 1961
Contract bridge (Grosset & Dunlap, 1953), Crawford assisted by Fred L. Karpin
Calypso: how to play and win the fascinating new card game (Doubleday, 1955)
The backgammon book (Viking Press, 1970), Oswald Jacoby and Crawford

The latter was soon translated.

Das Backgammonbuch, German transl. by Jens Schmidt-Prange and Suzanne Gangloff (Munich: Keyser, 1974)
Le livre du backgammon, French transl. by René Orléan, 1975

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

ACBL Hall of Fame, 1995^[3]^[4]

Awards

Fishbein Trophy 1952, 1957
Herman Trophy 1953

Wins

Bermuda Bowl (3) 1950, 1951, 1953
North American Bridge Championships (37)
- Vanderbilt (9) 1941, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960
- Spingold (5) 1943, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1957
- Chicago (now Reisinger) (10) 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1961
- Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1956, 1961
- Master Mixed Teams (4) 1942, 1945, 1948, 1957
- Life Master Pairs (1) 1943
- Men's Pairs (1) 1939
- Rockwell Mixed Pairs (3) 1948, 1949, 1959
- Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1945
- Master Individual (1) 1956

Runners-up

Bermuda Bowl (1) 1958
North American Bridge Championships (27)
- Vanderbilt (1) 1952
- Spingold (4) 1939, 1947, 1955, 1961
- Chicago (now Reisinger) (2) 1948, 1950
- Men's Board-a-Match Teams (4) 1946, 1948, 1959, 1973
- Master Mixed Teams (6) 1944, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1973, 1975
- Life Master Pairs (5) 1938, 1941, 1947, 1952, 1956
- Men's Pairs (1) 1953
- Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 1947
- Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1942
- Master Individual (2) 1951, 1958

References

^ "Sport: Four Other Bridge Masters". TIME. September 29, 1958. (subscription required)
^ Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (1994). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. ISBN 0-943855-48-9. LCCN 96188639.
^ "Induction by Year" Archived 2014-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
^ "Crawford, John". Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.

External links

Citation at the ACBL Hall of Fame (archived)
"International record for John R. Crawford". World Bridge Federation.
"John Crawford – The Table Games Genius" at Backgammon Portal (backgommoned.com)