Three players greeted the new Spring NABC by winning their first national championships – twice. Phyllis Novak, of Shreveport, Leonard Harmon, of New York, and Ivar Stakgold, of Washington, won two national titles apiece at the Atlantic City Tournament.
Novak came first by winning the Women’s Pairs with Betty Nail, of Houston on the first Sunday of the tourney. She then won the Mixed Pairs (Hilliard) with John Gerber of Houston.
Perhaps to show that Houston had nothing to do with it, Harmon and Stakgold paired up to win the Open Pairs and the Vanderbilt Teams.
Stakgold nosed Harmon out in the competition for best-in-show by landing third in the Men’s Pairs. Harmon placed fifth. At the time there was no trophy established to honor Stakgold’s achievement, but two years later the Mott-Smith Trophy was put into play and made retroactive to include the 1958 and 1959 winners.
Betty Nail, John Gerber and Phyllis Novak