| Dick & Val CUMMINGS |
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Richard John Cummings, Dick per gli amici, nacque nel 1932 a Sydney e si spense prematuramente nel 1999 a causa di un attacco polmonare, è stato il miglior giocatore australiano di ogni tempo.
Con Tim Seres ha formato una coppia di eccezionale rendimento che ha saputo conquistare molti allori internazionali.
Tra i titoli più prestigiosi del palmares di Dick, fanno spicco due medaglie di bronzo alle Bermuda Bowl di Taipei (1971) e di Rio (1979).
Membro fisso della nazionale dei canguri, consulente del WBF Executive Council dal 1994 al 1995, Dick ha anche pubblicato con grande successo le news della World Bridge Federations per quasi un ventennio.
Sua moglie Valerie Cummings detta Val, che gli ha dato tre figli, è stata una delle migliori bridgiste australiane che ha vinto diversi titoli nazionali giocando in coppia con i migliori giocatori del suo Paese e arrivando a rappresentare la nazionale femminile australiani alle Olimpiadi del 1976.
Nata il 14 giugno del 1942 e scomparsa dopo una lunga battaglia con il cancro il 13 ottobre del 2012, Val viveva a Sydney ed è stata una femminista convinta per tutto il corso della sua vita.
Richard
John Cummings, called Dick, is regarded as the greatest Australian-born bridge player of all time.
His ethics and demeanor set the very highest standards and he was a role model and mentor to many of Australia's finest bridge players.
Dick edited WBF News for some years and his daily bridge column has been widely and enthusiastically read for the last twenty years by bridge players ranging from social to the best players.
The foursome of Dick Cummings, Tim Seres, Roelof Smilde and Denis Howard put Australia on the world bridge map with a series of top placings in the World Championships of the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in a Bronze Medal in 1973.
Cummings and Seres went on to become one of the world's top pairs, and were described by Alan Truscott at the1981 Bermuda Bowl as "the world's most experienced pair", having added another Bronze Medal in the 1979 Bermuda Bowl after a stirring last round match against Italy to determine whether Australia or Italy met USA in the Final.
Watching the Vu-Graph at the 1980 Olympiad in Valkenburg, my young eyes looked in awe as Dick played a hand much better than the world-class commentators had envisaged. Dick won the Bols Brilliancy Prize for that play.
Unlike many world class players, Dick gave back as much as he got from the game which he loved.
During the 1980s he organized the annual Herald Rubber Bridge Competition, which was at the time the world's largest bridge event.
Dick taught bridge, played bridge, wrote bridge, served bridge and most of all set a shining example of the standard of behavior expected at the bridge table.
His wife Valerie Cummings said Val, who gave him three children, was one of the best women player Australian and she has won several national titles playing in tandem with the best players in her country.
Born June 14, 1942 and disappeared after a long battle with cancer on October 13, 2012, Val was living in Sydney and it was a convinced feminist throughout the course of her life.
