The Mott-Smith Trophy, named for writer and cryptographer Geoffrey Mott-Smith, is awarded to the player with the best overall individual performance in the Spring Nationals, the spring event of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).[1]

History edit

The Mott-Smith Trophy was donated in 1961 by friends of Geoffrey Mott-Smith and was made retroactive to include all the winners from 1958.[1]

Namesake edit

Geoffrey Arthur Mott-Smith (1902–1960) was the second son of Harold Mead Mott-Smith (1872-1978) and Jennie Ormsby Yates (1874-1941) and a grandson of John Mott-Smith.[2] He became co-chairman of the ACBL Laws Commission, editor of the ACBL Bridge Bulletin 1935–36, a contributor to The Bridge World, a writer and cryptographer. During World War II, Mott-Smith served as chief instructor for the OSS in the training of cryptographers and cryptanalysts. He wrote or co-wrote more than 29 books on games and served as games consultant for the Association of American Playing Card Manufacturers.[3]

Winners edit

Boldface numerals represent a record-breaking number of masterpoints.

Mott-Smith Trophy
Year Winners Masterpoints
1958 Ivar Stakgold n/a
1959 Lew Mathe n/a
1960 Norman Kay n/a
1961 Robert Jordan n/a
1962 Robert Jordan n/a
1963 Sidney Silodor, Norman Kay n/a
1964 Lew Mathe n/a
1965 Phil Feldesman n/a
1966 Phil Feldesman n/a
1967 Lew Mathe n/a
1968 Norman Kay n/a
1969 Sue Sachs 168
1970 Barry Crane 155
1971 Barry Crane 135
1972 Paul Swanson, Jack Blair 159
1973 Bobby Wolff 233
1974 Ron Andersen 250
1975 Roger Bates 203
1976 Larry T. Cohen 225
1977 Mark Blumenthal 200
1978 Mike Passell 250
1979 Jeff Meckstroth 215
1980 Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell 173
1981 Allan Stauber 166
1982 David Berkowitz, Harold Lilie 198
1983 Mike Passell 214
1984 Lew Stansby 172
1985 Jeff Meckstroth 196
1986 Lew Stansby 207
1987 Steve Robinson, Peter Boyd 200
1988 Roger Bates 193
1989 Eddie Wold 167
1990 John Sutherlin 300
1991 Zia Mahmood 183
1992 Roger Bates 186
1993 Michael Seamon 196
1994 Chip Martel 250
1995 Michael Polowan 242
1996 Zia Mahmood 252
1997 Bart Bramley 292
1998 Eddie Wold 243
1999 Petra Hamman 265
2000 Jeff Meckstroth 313
2001 Jill Meyers 234
2002 Paul Soloway 357.41
2003 Geoff Hampson 317.42
2004 Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes 363.82
2005 Eddie Wold 282.05
2006 Fred Chang 347.50
2007 Roy Welland 380.00
2008  Krzysztof Jassem, Krzysztof Martens  257.50
2009 Jeff Meckstroth 304.92
2010 Tor Helness 320.59
2011 Joel Wooldridge 454.31
2012 Thomas Bessis, Ishamel Delmonte 400.00
2013 Mike Kamil 342.58
2014 Bobby Levin 450.00
2015 Cedric Lorenzini 284.24
2016 Geoff Hampson, Eric Greco 315.71
2017 Jeff Meckstroth 400.00
2018 Bobby Levin, Steve Weinstein 380.00
2019 Steve Garner 304.51
2020 No NABC Held
2021 No NABC Held
2022 Michael Rosenberg, Zachary Grossack 405.00
2023 Greg Humphreys 291.24

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (1988), p. 288.
  2. ^ Harold Mead Mott-Smith at ancestors.familysearch.com. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  3. ^ Mott-Smith, Morehead and Morehead (2001), cover.

Sources edit

  • List of previous winners, Page 6. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 49, April 5, 2006
  • 2006 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 49, April 10, 2006
  • 2007 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 50, March 19, 2007
  • 2008 winners, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 51, March 17, 2008
  • 2009 winner, Page 3. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 52, March 23, 2009[permanent dead link]
  • 2010 winner, Page 2. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 53, March 22, 2010
  • 2011 winner, Spring 2011 NABC Final Results
  • 2012 winner, Page 4. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 55, March 26, 2012
  • 2013 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 56, March 25, 2013
  • 2014 winner, Page 4. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 57, March 31, 2014
  • 2015 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 58, March 23, 2015
  • 2016 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 59, March 21, 2016
  • 2017 winner, Page 1. Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 60, March 20, 2017
  • Mott-Smith, Geoffrey, Philip D. Morehead and Albert H. Morehead (2001). Hoyle's Rules of Games. Penguin. ISBN 9781101100233

External links edit