The first bridge club on the Big Island was started by Don B

Bridge History

By Shari Bolton

AppleMark The first bridge club on the Big Island was started by Don B. Von Elsner in Hilo. I'm not sure of the date, but you can get info on Von Elsner in the ACBL encyclopedia. Chuck Watson and his wife Irma used to drive all the way from Kona to Hilo just to get a game of bridge. Then Chuck started a club here in Kona. The ACBL was not able to give the date the club was sanctioned.

I retired in Kona in 1980. The club was well established by then. Very few of the original group are with us today. Marion Durant and Aileen Newman come to mind. And, oh yes, we had a yearly visitor from Texas named Blaine Thomas, who had a club in Beaumont, Texas.

We used to look forward to every Tuesday night since that was the only game we had. Chuck was kind enough to give us a few lessons in his home for which I was grateful. I hadn't played bridge in 30 years and had no idea what Stayman was all about, and the Weak Two was really a shock. Chuck was the only Life Master in our group. There was no such thing as stratification and we new ones had a rough time competing with more experienced pairs. If we got lucky and placed, we got our name in the paper. Oh what joy! We had occasional parties at the hotels, paid for through club profits. There were times when it seemed Tuesday would never roll around and adding another evening was suggested. Chuck didn't want to do more than one night so Paul Huston offered to take the directors test and when he passed, a Thursday night game was started. There were no computers then and everyone would stand around and watch the director add up the scores manually. Directors were paid 50 cents a table.

We were all so happy to have two games a week, but after a bit Paul and Beverly decided to move to Honolulu. Horrors! What would happen to Thursday's game? Paul asked every member of the club to take over. He even offered to coach anyone who would like to be director. After getting no takers he finally asked me, a novice with only 20 master points. I finally agreed to take the test and I became the new director, but I advised them that this was strictly temporary. The first time I directed I was so nervous, but a kind visitor, Blaine Thomas, offered to help me score. I was so grateful. Also, my partner at the time agreed to record the players' scores. That was Lyle Morse. About three and a half years later I was finally able to step down after I recruited Frank Allen to be a director. I wanted to concentrate on my bridge. Alex Cameron was club president at that time and made a nice speech, thanking me for my service and presenting me with a lifetime pass for table fees.

We kept asking Blaine when he was going to retire. We wanted him to start a game in Waikoloa, but he was too young to retire in 1988. He was a college professor who also ran a bridge club in Beaumont, Texas. He also had a home in Waikoloa. So Fran Pope made arrangements to use the Waikoloa club house, ordered all the equipment and talked Frank Allan into being a director. I was signed on as backup until the club got their own directors trained. The Waikoloa club was established the first of January, 1988. The Kona Club was held at Hale Halawai when I first arrived. It was sort of an outside pavilion. The kids on the beach right outside of our area would sit and watch the waves and smoke pakalolo (is that how you spell marijuana?). Talk about your second hand smoke! And then there was Iwa, a hurricane headed straight for the west cost of our islands in November, 1982. Aileen Newman's husband, known as Buzz, wrote a column for the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. He included an account about the die-hards of the Kona Bridge Club. Much to my surprise, seven full tables played bridge the night of the hurricane. We didnπt think Kona would be hit. The tables were set up as usual and play began when all of a sudden cards were flying all over. Did we stop playing bridge? No, we moved five of the tables into the kitchen and put two in a partly sheltered area where we had to hold the cards down. Fortunately, Kona just experienced the side effects of the hurricane.

Next we had to find another home since Hale Halawai was being refurbished. It wasnπt easy but we finally got to rent a pavilion in what was then Kona Gardens. We had our problems there, too. One night everone showed up, about 40 players, and discovered that we were locked out. We had paid the rent and everone was really steamed. Wally Leth and a few others were all for getting a crow bar and breaking into the building. Then I remembered the wrenches I carry in my trunk. Lyle Morse and Wally were able to take the gate off the hinges so we could get in. When the game was over, they replaced the gate and nothing was damaged. When I called the owner the next day, he told me about the drunken caretaker who was supposed to give us the new key. Then he wanted to know how we got in. I told him that we jiggled the lock.

After Kona Gardens, we got to rent the new building that the Kona Outdoor Circle built. Chuck Watson, our director, got together with Bob Bailey and put in lighting for our games. Eventually, Chuck Watson and his wife moved back to the mainland and Blaine finally retired and moved to his home in Waikoloa. We were happy to get an experienced director. Bless his soul! We were at the mercy of KOC until Joanne Clark spearheaded a movement to get our own building. With a lot of hard work by Chuck and Joanne ( and many others ) and the most generous contributions by Blaine Thomas, Doug Troxel, and the whole membership, we now have a beautiful and large Bridge Building.

When I hear players complaining about the noise level, I just sit there, very smug, remembering the places we used to play at and think, 'WE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD'.

Shari Bolton

Click to enlarge for a story of bridge and November 1982 Hurricane Iwa.

[Home Page] [Unit 469 Board]