After lying dormant for nearly 30 years, the Bridge Hall of Fame was re-established in 1995 with the election and induction of eight new members.
In ceremonies, just prior to the 1995 Spring NABC in Phoenix, the Bridge Hall of Fame added three living members – Edgar Kaplan, Alvin Roth and Bobby Wolff. They were joined by five deceased members – B. Jay Becker, Easley Blackwood, Barry Crane, John Crawford and Helen Sobel Smith.
Nine members were elected to the Hall of Fame in the Sixties when the institution was the province of its creator, The Bridge World magazine. They are: Ely Culbertson (1964), Charles Goren (1964), Harold Vanderbilt (1964), Oswald Jacoby (1965), Sidney Lenz (1965), Milton Work (1965), Waldemar von Zedtwitz (1966), Sidney Silodor (1966) and Howard Schenken (1966).
The Bridge Hall of Fame was reborn in the summer of 1994 when the ACBL Board of Directors acted on a proposal from then-President Virgil Anderson, who proposed the recreation “to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the game of bridge.”
A Bridge Hall of Fame Committee was established to oversee future development of the institution. The original committee members were: Bobby Wolff, Bernard Warshauer, Richard Goldberg, Jan Cohen and Alan Truscott.
The Hall of Fame Nominating Committee selected 16 living (age 60 or older) and 33 deceased members for the first ballot. The nominating committee was: David Treadwell, Amalya Kearse, Richard Freeman, John Gustafson, John Carruthers, Colby Vernay, Henry Lortz, Korene Geffen and Herb Smith.
Nearly 900 electors received ballots – Diamond Life Master or higher, North American members of the IBPA, current and past members of the ACBL Board of Directors, current members of the ACBL Board of Governors and all Honorary Members of the Year.
Elections to the Hall of Fame are conducted annually. There are currently 106 members. Biographies of each member can be found here.