The Whitehead Women's Pairs bridge championship is held at the spring
American Contract Bridge League
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...
(ACBL)
North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Whitehead Women's Pairs is a four-session
matchpoint (MP) pairs event with two qualifying and two final sessions. The event typically starts on the second Thursday of the NABC and is restricted to female players.
History
The Whitehead Women’s Pairs is an event for partnerships consisting of two female players. There are two qualifying sessions, followed by two final sessions. The contest was held annually at the Summer North American Bridge Championship until 1962. That was changed the following year and subsequently contested at the Spring North American Bridge Championship.
At stake is the Whitehead Trophy, donated in 1930 by
Wilbur Whitehead
Wilbur Cherrier Whitehead (1866-1931) was an American auction bridge and contract bridge player and writer.
Whitehead was president of the Simplex Automobile Company but retired in 1910 to devote himself to bridge. He invented several convention ...
of New York, a great bridge authority and a member of the team that won the
Vanderbilt Cup
The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing.
History
An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, ...
in 1928, the first year it was in play. Whitehead (1866–1931) was president of the Simplex Automobile Company, but bridge held such a fascination for him that he retired from business in 1910 to devote his life to bridge. He was the inventor of many bidding and play conventions, the quick-trick table of card values, the Whitehead system of requirements for original bids and responses and the Whitehead table of preferential leads. Whitehead was instrumental in standardizing procedures in auction bridge and later in contract bridge.
Winners
No Women's Pairs champion has defended its title in more than 50 years, but four early winners did so on seven occasions: 1939, 1942–43, 1948, 1956–58. The four-time winners from 1955 to 1958 were
Kay Rhodes and
Margaret Wagar
Margaret Wagar (April 6, 1902 – January 6, 1990) was an American bridge player from Delaware, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia.
The premier American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) annual championship for women teams since 1976 is the Wagar Women's Kno ...
.
See also
*
Smith Life Master Women's Pairs
Sources
* List of previous winners, Page 8.
* 2009 winners, Page 1.
* 2017 winners, Page 1.
* "Search Results: Whitehead Womens Pairs". 1930 to present. ACBL. Visi
"NABC Winners" Retrieved 2016-12-18.
{{WPCBIndex
North American Bridge Championships