Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-19

I /:
Whitehead.'
If the test of man is the Joy that he
gave,
And to make others happy he toiled like
slave,
No slogan is needed to state DER his
grave
He served.
For the thousands he taught how to
brighten their lives
Have hearts where the thought Of his
helpfulneSS thriveS,
Example to each who for worthinesS
OR the first time in many years an i'm
portant bridge tournament Is to be held
l. in the East without Wilbur c. White
head present and taking q prominent
part. When play begins tomorrow in
the Summer tournament of the Amer
lean Bridge League at ASbury Park. ON the
New Jersey shore, he will not answer the roll
call. Last year he played in every national
them all. He viii be a factor, though, even
after he has passed on, for the Wilbur c.
Whitehead trophies, emblematic Of the national
contract championship for pairs of women
players, will be completed for not only this
year. but probably every year, as long as con-
tract hveS-a permanent memorial to what he
did for the game.
Whitehead will be missed He viii be badly
missed He was affable and easy to become
acquainted with; practically everybody who
knew him called him Whitley" Actually thou
sands of people had addressed him with that
affectonate nickname, to say nothing of the
many, many more thousands-or rather mil
lons-who knew his fame and who directly or
indirectly had learned better bridge because of
him
Whitehead:s death was typical of his life.
Aboard the Isle de France, bound to Europe on
a trip which his doctors hoped would help
restore his health, he would not rest. He
worked. He took with him several great loose
leaf books in which we're bound thousands of
sheets, each presenting every card of some
bridge hand played in one tournament or an
other. He spent his resting hours analyzing
these and conducting research regarding certain
phases Of contract bidding, to make sure as
possible his opinions regarding the exact re-
quirements for particular declarations. But
his research was ended abruptly when he en-
cOuntered the hand he could not analyze-
the hand of death
Among all the men who have become promi-
nents in bridge none of them was quite the
investigator that Whitehead was. None of them
would take hand after hand and test theories
as applied to them in the way that he would.
He loved It, And he loved to be able to cite an
unlimited number of actual cases to prove the
soundness of his ideas.
The game owes much to his pioneer work.
particularly IN his origination of the quick
trick" theory-the fact that every opening bid
should show at least some specific amount of
Ike
quickly against a suit bid by opponents. Every
modern bidding method includes such require
ments, and SO probably will every bidding sys-
tenn of future years, just the term quick
trick will probably live as long as the game
Is played.
Perhaps the conductor of this forum will be
pardoned for saying that he proud to call
himself one of "Whiteys" closest associates
through a term of years and that his most
treasured trophy is the first he ever won in q
national tournament-an American Bridge
League top score pin won with Wilbur C..
Whitehead as his partner, which for sentiment
tai reasons is the only one he ever wears on
his coat lapel.