Eric Murray

Eric R. Murray (31 August 1928 in Hamilton, Ontario – 19 May 2018) was a Canadian contract bridge player and co-founder of the Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF). He and his long-time regular partner Sami Kehela were considered two of the best Canadian players in the history of the game. (continued after 2004 as part of the World Mind Sports Games).

Murray 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- double-elimination tournament. Murray was already a Toronto lawyer; his bridge partner Charles Coon was manager of the Boston Chess Club. Unique among world players, Murray and Kehela also represented their country as a partnership in every one of the first six World Team Olympiads, from Turin in 1960 to Valkenburg in 1980. Together they won the Life Master Men's Pairs, the Life Master Pairs, the Vanderbilt, and the Spingold Trophy three times. It was said that the key to their successful partnership was that each thought the other the better player.

Murray and Agnes Gordon won the ACBL's premier annual Mixed Pairs tournament in 1963. Their score in the final session, 506.5 of 650 top, or 78%, is the highest single-session score in the history of national-level ACBL pairs competition (to 2009).

In Chicago at the 1965 Nationals (thrice-annual 10-day meets now called North American Bridge Championships), Murray led a group of Canadian organizers and enthusiasts to create the Canadian Bridge Federation. Initial meetings were held in Murray's home and the organization ran its first national final in Winnipeg in September 1967. Canadian Bridge Federation Hall of Fame, 2010

Wins

North American Bridge Championships (14) von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1) 1969 Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 1963 Wernher Open Pairs (2) 1954, 1955 Nail Life Master Open Pairs (1) 1963 Vanderbilt (2) 1961, 1970 Marcus Cup (1) 1959 Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1962 Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (2) 1956, 1962 Spingold (3) 1964, 1965, 1968

Runners-up

North American Bridge Championships Wernher Open Pairs (1) 1965 Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (1) 1955