Checkers king crowned
By SUSAN FITZGERALD
Collegian Staff Writer
A tense silence pervaded
the smoke-filled room where
18 men, positioned around a
long table, sat and con
centrated.
Checkers was the name of
the game.
This past weekend, the
annual championship of the
Pennsylvania State Checkers
Association, Inc. was held at
the University, as it has been
every year since 1966.
Official referee for the
tournament, John Parry of
East Stroudsburg, said that
the tournament is held in
Kirk Lehman of East Waterford considers his next move. At
83 "plus", he was the oldest player in the tournament.
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All students are invited to attend
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Thursday, September 9,1976 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Rain date: September 10
memory of the late Dan
Frank of State College. '
Parry said that Frank, a
well-known ,checkers player
who died in 1966, provided in
his will for a fund to establish
the annual state checkers
tournament in State College.
The prize money, $l,OlO,
comes from the fund.
The - participants in the
tournament, who came from
various parts of Penn
sylvania, rarely moved their
eyes from the boards. The
clicking of plastic discs was
interrupted by only an oc
casional mumble.
"In the tournament it's all
work," said Bob Hill of
Greensburg. "You get all
tensed up just playing 'the
game."
Hill, who plays checkers
every lunch hour, said that he
took up the game seriously
four years ago. .
"Everyone knows how to
push checkers," Edmund
Umberger, professor of math
at the University. said. "But
it's really very scientific."
Umberger, an avid
checkers player who olr
served the competition, said
that he has close to 80 books
on checkers.
Gene Jodon of Monroeville,
youth director for both
Pennsylvania and the
Nati,onal ' Checkers
Association, is initiating a
Program to promote checkers
throughout the United States
and Great Britian. -
Free tournaments are
being set up across the
country, for children under 17
years of age, he said.'
"A lot of people laugh at
checkers, until they get
started," Jodon said. "Then
they see the mystery in the
game and they get in
terested."
While Jodon takes the game
of checkers seriously, he also
manages to keep it fun.
Jodon, a checker
exhibitioner', carries -a
business card that reads:
"Have Board Will Draw."
When asked how long he
had been playing checkers,
Jodon just laughed and said:
"Too long."
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Concentration builds as the checkers fly. Several men study
their checkerboards as they vie for $l,OlO in prize money and
the title, Checkers Champion of Pennsylvania. The state
checkers tournament is an annual event at State College.
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Collegian Tuesday, September 7, 1976
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Photos by Julio Clpolls