We are sad to report the death this morning of Brian Crack. Brian was a long-standing member of the EBU Tournament Committee, was involved in all aspects of the Master Point scheme, and in 2014 received the Silver Award for his work for the EBU.
He was also a Kent committee member and shareholder for many years, and an obituary appears on the Kent CBA website.
Ian Payn, Chair of the EBU, said: “Brian Crack was one of the first people I met at the bridge table. He was kind and supportive to a young player. Many years later when I joined the EBU Board I was appointed Chair of the (then) Tournament Committee. Brian was the Deputy Chair and again, proved kind and supportive, in what was to me an alien environment. His contribution at club, county and national level was considerable and lengthy. I owe him a great debt, personally, and the membership at large does as well.”
Silver Award winner, 2014
Brian joined the Kent committee in 1983, and became Secretary in 1986. He then became Chairman in 1989, a post in which he continued for four years until forced to stand down from the committee because of business commitments. He continued to arrange events for Kent including their first Green-Pointed event, and their first Stratified Swiss Teams (indeed, the first such event in the country). Brian returned to the Kent committee in 2002 as Secretary, and served for another seven years. Throughout this time he has been active at his local club, serving on committees. A shareholder since 2002, he served for seven years on the Tournament Committee, six of those as Vice-Chairman, providing invaluable support for two successive Chairmen. Among his achievements were the introduction of Blue Points, and his interest in the field of Master Points was of great importance at both national and county level. There is no sphere of bridge administration with which Brian has not been involved, at local, county or national level for a period of over thirty-years.