| Edgar GAY |
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Edgar Rudolf Gay è nato a Berlino il 21 Settembre del 1923 con il cognome Frohlich ma quando l'attività commerciale venne distrutta dalla gioventù hitleriana, la famiglia decise di emigrare e dopo un avventuroso viaggio per nave, approdò a Cuba e poco dopo raggiunse di lì la Georgia.
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Prima di emigrare, studiò matematica ed entrò a far parte della rappresentativa berlinese di calcio.
Negli USA la sua famiglia si stabilì ad Atlanta e si occupò della gestione di un negozio che poi acquistò alla morte del proprietario.
Durante la seconda guerra mondiale Edgar servì nell'Intelligence e al suo ritorno sposò Corner Hymes che gli diede due figli.
Dotato di una bella voce di basso acquistò notorietà sulle scene teatrali di Atlanta e le sue barzellette fecero storia.
Buon bridgista, è stato eletto nella Hall of Fame del Bridge georgiano per le sue grandi doti di amministratore e organizzatore più che per quelle di giocatore.
Morì il 17 gennaio del 1984.
Edgar Rudolf Gay was born Edgar Frohlich in Berlin, Germany on September 21,
1923. While an excellent student of mathematics and science in school, his
greatest love was football, or soccer as it is called in this country. As a high
school-aged athlete, he was selected to the all-Berlin team in 1937. On November
9, 1938, during the famous Kristallnacht or night of the broken glass, his
parents’ store in Berlin was destroyed by Hitler youth. His cousin, historian
Peter Gay writes of witnessing the destruction in his book My German Question.
Realizing that Germany was no longer a safe place to live, the family packed
what they could and left. While he and his family hoped to come directly to the
United States, quotas from Germany had already been filled, so they decided to
go first to Cuba and then immigrate to the USA from there. They originally
planned to sail to Cuba on the SS St. Louis, but got to port sooner than
expected and found passage on the Iberia. In the luckiest of turns, the Iberia
delivered them safely to Cuba. The St. Louis, today known as “the ship of the
damned,” was not allowed to dock anywhere and returned to Germany.
Shortly thereafter, the family was able to immigrate to Georgia. They eventually settled in Atlanta, where the owner of a small grocery store allowed them to live in the back of the store at 10th and Peachtree in return for their running the store. Very proud to become American citizens and tired of having their name mispronounced, they translated their last name into English. Frohlich in German means to be happy or gay, so Edgar Frohlich became Edgar Gay. Several years later, the owner of the store died, so the family purchased the store and turned it into Gay’s Men’s Shop. When the store was to open they couldn’t afford all the stock they needed, so, displaying a card player’s moxie, they removed all the shirts and hats from their boxes, put them in display cases, and then put the boxes back up on top to make it appear they had more stock than they did.
When the United States entered World War II, Edgar joined the US Army and served in Military Intelligence. After the war, he returned to Atlanta and went to work at and later ran Gay’s Men’s Shops with his mother and his brother. He married Comer Hymes on February 4, 1951 and had a son named Milton and a daughter Barbara. He began playing bridge socially as a young adult, and moved quickly on to tournament bridge. Edgar also was a noted actor in the Atlanta theater scene with a rich bass voice. He played parts ranging from Curly in “Oklahoma” to the romantic Emile deBec in “South Pacific.” It was very common to hear Broadway musicals playing in his house and he was a strong influence on both his children being active in musical theater. He stood about 5’6” with a big round face, a bald head, and a quick smile. His jokes and stories were legendary. Despite being born in Germany he was proud to speak without even the slightest accent, “except for southern,” he would joke. An ex-athlete, he enjoyed most sports, and supported Atlanta’s professional sports franchises, especially the Atlanta Hawks. As a father, he coached both boys’ baseball and girls’ softball, and when Druid Hills High School first organized a soccer team, he attended practices as a coach/consultant and assisted the school’s first team coming in 3rd in the State. Lunch companions included head coaches from both the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, as well as sportscasters and other local notables. Having never finished high school or gone to college, he did the Atlanta newspaper’s crossword puzzles daily in ink. When asked about this once, he replied, “When you know the answer, you do it in ink.”
Edgar Rudolf Gay died on January 17, 1981 in a way he couldn’t have choreographed better if he had tried. He worked a tournament that night, then went with some of the other directors for a late night snack at the Varsity. He loved the onion rings. He drove home and, with his wife Comer, watched the Hawks play a game on the west coast. After his team won, he went to bed and died quietly in his sleep.
Edgar Gay was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984, earning a spot in the
Georgia Bridge Hall of Fame because of his extraordinary contributions and
service to Georgia bridge, more so than for his accomplishments as a player.
Nonetheless, Edgar was proud of every one his lifetime total of 890.12 master
points.
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