The Kirkwood Trophy

Slideshow of the Kirkwood Trophy

(for best view, click on fullscreen icon at bottom right of video)

A Brief History of the Kirkwood Trophy

John E. Kirkwood became ACBL Life Master #1033 in 1956.  He played with many different partners around the Pacific Northwest while working as a traveling salesman.  He married Helen Rall in 1960 and “bravely” took on the responsibility of helping rear her four children.  He taught Helen to play and taught daughter Nancy Rall (Carle) to play duplicate as well. Kirkwood was influential in the early years of bridge in this area. In the 1950’s and 1960’s he served as a bridge governance official in District 19 and Seattle Unit 446. He died suddenly of a massive stroke in January 1967.

ACBL Grand Life Master and Bellevue, WA resident Joe Jabon spearheaded the effort to launch and dedicate the Kirkwood Trophy as a memorial to John Kirkwood.  John’s wife sponsored the trophy.

As inscribed on the trophy, it was inaugurated as “The John Kirkwood Trophy for Best Performance.” Over the years the criteria for being awarded the trophy evolved from winning the most masterpoints in the year to winning the most masterpoints in District 19 regionals in the year.

Joe Jabon made the presentation of the trophy to its first winner, John Kamb, for the year 1967. In later years John joked that in the day – before events were stratified – masterpoints were more difficult to come by. He also noted that, at the time, masterpoints were documented on slips of paper that were then turned in to be recorded and that this process was imperfect and potentially prone to inaccuracies.

The Kirkwood trophy was won by ACBL Hall of Famer Paul Soloway in 1979. Joe Jabon himself was the winner for the years 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000.

Kirkwood Trophy Winners 1967-present