Recently, the ACBL museum received a matchbook cover featuring Detroit Lion Ace Gutowsky Jr. The matchbook was donated by Roger Neufeldt of Norman OK and sent in by District 15 Director Phyllis Harlan.
Many people are familiar with Ace’s football career, but not many know he was also a successful bridge player.
On the gridiron Gutowsky played professionally from 1931-1938 and was fullback for the Detroit Lions when they won the world championship in 1935. According to the matchbook cover, Gutowsky was 5’ 11’ and 197 lbs and “rated the fastest man in the league at picking a hole.”
In the bridge world, Gutowsky became Life Master #256 in 1950 and won the 1951 Men’s Board-a-Match (now the Mitchell Open BAM) in Detroit. He accumulated a lifetime total of 3438 masterpoints and was named the District 15 Goodwill Committee representative in 1968. He was a well-known and much beloved figure on the bridge scene for more than three decades.
Gutowsky died in Oklahoma City on Dec. 5, 1976 at the age of 67.
Nancy Alpaugh and Ace