Dorothy Rice Sims was born June 24, 1889 at Asbury Park NJ. From her teens, Dorothy was active in competition, holding the motorcycle speed championship for women (1911) and becoming one of the first U.S. aviatrixes, in which capacity she met and married ACBL Hall of Fame Member P. Hal Sims.
She was a noted sculptress, painter and author in fields other than bridge, though she wrote several bridge books. She is widely credited with inventing the psychic bid, but probably initiated only the popular name for it. However, she wrote her first book on the subject, Psychic Bidding, 1932.
The story goes like this, once she picked up a hand containing five spades and five hearts and not knowing which to bid, she opened one club. Her partner responded one heart and they got a top. Not noted for her spelling ability, when she was writing up her discovery for a magazine, she meant to title it “psychological bidding”, but the word came out “sycic” and deceitful bids have been known as “psychics” or “sikes” ever since.
After P. Hal Sims’ death, she toured the world several times as a political correspondent for various newspapers. She died suddenly in Egypt in 1960.
