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BGonline.org Forums
Herb Gurland, Former Giant, Passed Today
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: Herb Gurland, Former Giant, Passed Today (Paul Weaver)
Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2015, at 1:30 p.m.
I was lucky to play backgammon sessions with Herb a couple times a week for the past several years. I already expressed my sense of his character in an earlier thread related to the 'controversy' that others have mentioned here. Less than two weeks ago we were playing as usual in Davis Square, so it came as a shock on Saturday to see him at our monthly NEBC tournament in a clearly advanced state of frailty and discomfort. Our hearts were broken.
Over the course of the day, I was moved to see how so many players in the tournament seemed to find a little intimate time to visit with Herb, play a few games, talk quietly, laugh a little, and say an affectionate goodbye, not in so many words, but in effect. As the day wound down I finished my last $ session with him -- his backgammon skills were not affected by his maladies and he won 16 of our 23 games for +3 pts.
So last night I entered that result in my Filemaker database and closed the book on our friendly competition.
First Session: June 17th 1993, summertime in Harvard Square ....................
TotalGames (Heads-up only): 5867 ................................................................
My Wins: 46.8% ............................................................................................
Net Points: -441 ............................................................................................
Ave. pts./game: -.075 ....................................................................................
Well, okay, maybe 'competition' isn't the right word.
But we had fun, and .075 doesn't seem like too much to have paid for his company.
Albert
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