Monday, September 10, 2012

Biig Al, In Remembrance

Biig Al passed away today.  He died as he lived which was mostly by himself.  I like to think that he considered me a friend, but, I really don't know.  I do know that, as a new player, he was very protective of me and did not allow intimidation tactics by my much more skilled and knowledgeable opponents.  I know that, in this age of zero tolerance, we can't even imagine older players being horrible to newbies but, I can assure you, five years ago, it was still happening.  My partner today had never played in the "big" club game and everyone in the room was kind and patient.  That was really nice.  Biig Al would not have allowed anything else were he directing.
 
That isn't to say that he didn't give me a truckload of grief when I bid a four card suit for the second time or on the two level.  He was my unofficial mentor those first two years.  Officially, his partner, Robert was my real mentor but Al played as my partner often.  I once asked him how it was for him, a major league bridge dude, to play with someone as low level as I was at the time. He answered, "Well, if you really want to know, it's boring".  That's probably because I didn't play Al and Robert's esoteric Italian Blue Club System.  The joke around the club was that no one ever knew what their bids meant and neither did they.  Not true, of course, since they often won.
 
He used to come over for dinner once in a while and critique whatever I had cooked.  He knew his way around a stove and, whatever I cooked got better if he helped - at least the critique improved.  Gradually, a couple of years ago, he stopped playing as much bridge and he didn't return my requests to set up games.  He said that he just couldn't think as well as he used to and, I think, was embarrassed when he made mistakes in our game.  He had volatile, unstable diabetes and, recently, kidney failure.  One of those things would mess up my thinking.  I can't even imagine what both would do.
 
Recently, he had come back to the club a few times to play and, just last week, had donated a bookcase and his bridge books to the club.  I asked him why and he said he was moving when his lease was up in November.  I assume that he wanted a ground floor apartment.  Those stairs he had to climb could not have been easy for him.
 
I am glad that he didn't end up on machines in a critical care unit somewhere.  He would have been pulling his lines out and hollering at everyone to get him out of there.  I have spent many years in those places and wouldn't want anyone I care about to end their days there.  He died in his apartment, probably with the two stray cats he adopted, hopefully, in peace.  I shall miss him and always think of him when I misplay yet another no trump hand.  That should be often.
 

4 comments:

  1. Regarding "The joke around the club was that no one ever knew what their bids meant and neither did they."

    I played a few games with Al when I moved back to San Antonio, he loaned me the system notes and I found a copy of the Terence Reese book. So we played Blue Club (maybe 5 or 10 times). One day (a year later) he and Robert had an auction with a bunch of alerts. Since I knew the system, before the lead I just asked Al "Same as we play?" and he said "No" and then turned to Robert.

    "Even he's read the book! Why can't you read it?!" and the proceeded to explain their auction.

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    1. I am sorry to bother you. I am Albert's daughter Cynthia. I am trying to contact anyone who knew anything about my dad. We had very little contact since dad was such a loner. My brother and I might are his only children and my father was divorced. He was estranged from his side of the family. Please contact me at clagewaard@yahoo.com

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  2. Great story, Brian - it made me smile - thanks for posting!

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  3. Nice eulogy, Judy. I'll miss him. Thanks. Jerry

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