Sam Stayman


Samuel M. Stayman was an American bridge player, writer, and administrator. He is best known for Stayman, one of the world's most popular conventions; indeed, a day after writing his obituary Alan Truscott called him "the player best known in the world".

Life

Stayman was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated from Dartmouth College and from its affiliated Amos Tuck School of Business in 1930 and 1931. He became a successful textile executive and portfolio management executive. He lived primarily in Manhattan.
Stayman "played with enthusiasm until a few days before his death." He died of cancer at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1993 at age 84. He was survived by his second wife Josephine, three daughters and a son, and several grandchildren.

Bridge career

The Stayman convention was invented independently by Jack Marx and by Stayman's regular partner George Rapée. It became associated with his name because it was first published in an article written by Stayman, in The Bridge World magazine, June 1945. He also gave his name, spelled backward, to the Namyats convention, which was invented by another regular partner, Victor Mitchell.
Stayman and Rapée, John Crawford and Howard Schenken, Charles Goren and Sidney Silodor won the inaugural Bermuda Bowl in 1950, representing North America in a 3-way tournament with Great Britain and "Europe". For the next several years the event was a long head-to-head match with a European champion that might be Great Britain; Stayman, Rapée, Crawford, and Schenken won the next two in 1951 and 1953 with different teammates. Stayman also won a score of North American titles.
From 1958 to 1972, Stayman was president of the Cavendish Club of New York. As a bridge administrator, he was treasurer of the American Contract Bridge League from 1966 to 1969, and also served on the ACBL Charity Foundation. He was recognized as an honorary member of the ACBL in 1969 and of the American Bridge Teachers Association in 1979, having written at least a few books on bridge.
Stayman was Inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

Stayman was a contributing editor of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, which appeared in several editions beginning 1964. He wrote three books.
  • 144 pp. – UK edition, Faber & Faber, 1952
  • 223 pp. – UK edition, London: Rockliff, 1956
  • 207 pp. – UK edition, Faber, 1969, edited and introduced by Victor Mollo
A second US edition of the latter was published as Highroad to Winning Bridge: do you play Stayman?, with a foreword by Omar Sharif. A Chinese translation was published in 1972.
The Complete Stayman System was published at least in French and Italian translations, introduced by Pierre Albarran and Mario Franco.