Charles Coon (June 2, 1931 – January 18, 2003)[1] was an American
bridge player.
He finished second in two world championships and won six
North American Bridge Championships (NABC).
A son of
Carleton Coon, Coon was from
Gloucester, Massachusetts.[2] He graduated from
Harvard College and served in the
Korean War. Then he "devoted himself to playing bridge" but "[u]nlike other top players, he spent nearly all his time playing for money in clubs and earning himself a modest income."[3] He was manager of the Boston Chess Club as of March 1961.[4] He died in Staten Island at age 71 in 2003.[3]
Coon's first "national"-level victory in the
American Contract Bridge League was his greatest. He was one of "four young bridge experts led by
Robert F. Jordan" who won the annual
Vanderbilt Cup in 1961, when it was contested in a 64-
team double-elimination tournament. Jordan played with
Arthur Robinson, also of Philadelphia, and Coon played with
Eric Murray of Toronto.[4] Coon–Murray went on to qualify for the 6-man North America team in the
1962 Bermuda Bowl where they finished second to Italy's
Blue Team.
^
ab"Bridge: One Who Lived by His Wits, And His Hand of a Lifetime". Alan Truscott. The New York Times. January 23, 2003. Retrieved 2015-01-17. Quote: "died on Saturday on Staten Island". The column features a deal on which Coon was a big winner playing in a money club, with a
hand diagram that is not included in the online public archive. Coon opened the bidding seven hearts, which evoked a sacrifice at seven spades. Thus he earned a lot of money almost entirely by his opening bid, as the penalty against 7S was 2300 points where 7H would have scored 2310.
^
ab
"The Bridge Deck". Florence Osborn. The New York Herald Tribune. March 30, 1961. Page 16.
^"Silver Ribbon Winners"(PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 2014-03-23. p. 4. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-24.