Meyer Schleifer (February 9, 1908 – June 15, 1994)[1] was an American bridge player from Los Angeles, California.[2][3]
Schleifer was born in Brooklyn, New York City, one of five children born to Jewish emigrant parents Jacob Schleifer and Anna Frankel, born in Romania or the Russian Empire.[4][5] He was a strong chess player as a teenager. He contracted tuberculosis as a law student at Columbia University, whence he quit school and moved to Denver for his health. He moved to Los Angeles a few years later, and won two Southern California Chess Championships before he switched to bridge. For most of his life, he earned a living at the bridge table, primarily by playing rubber bridge for money stakes at clubs.[3] According to Eddie Kantar, who judged him "America's greatest bridge player" in 1972, Schleifer did have many clients at duplicate bridge, or tournament play, and could have become rich if he had not been a heavy loser betting on the horse races.[3]
Schleifer was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2000.[6]
Bridge accomplishments edit
Honors edit
- ACBL Hall of Fame, 2000[6]
Wins edit
- North American Bridge Championships (6)
- von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1) 1966 [7]
- Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1947 [8]
- Barclay Trophy (1) 1947
- Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1957 [9]
- Reisinger (1) 1959 [10]
- Spingold (1) 1953 [11]
Runners-up edit
References edit
- ^ California, Death Index, 1940-1997
- ^ Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (1994). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 731. ISBN 0-943855-48-9. LCCN 96188639.
- ^ a b c "Schleifer, Meyer". Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
- ^ 1920 United States Census, and 1930 United States Census, 1940 United States Census
- ^ "Obituary: Louis Schleifer". The New York Times. February 6, 1980.
- ^ a b "Induction by Year". Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
- ^ "von Zedtwitz LM Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 2014-06-18. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ "Mixed Pairs Previous Winners". American Contract Bridge League.
- ^ "Mitchell BAM Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 2013-12-01. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ "Reisinger Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 2013-12-06. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ "Spingold Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 2014-07-21. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
Further reading edit
- "Is this man America's greatest bridge player?", Eddie Kantar, Popular Bridge, December 1972.
External links edit
- Citation at the ACBL Hall of Fame (archived)
- "International record for Meyer Schleifer". World Bridge Federation.
- OCLC 857847646 – with photo portrait (WorldCat thumbnail image) of 6-man team, Los Angeles Bridge Club, 1960
