Club co-owner
Grant Petersen
of Taylor, left,
instructs Steve

Solomon of Florida
on bridge strategy.

Michigan Bridge Connection seeks to attract
younger players to the game.

Ruthan Brodsky

I Contributing Writer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

"The Bridge Connection was estab-
lished in 1992 by four principals who
wanted to be certain they would always
have a place where they could play with
other dedicated bridge players without
traveling all over the city," recalls Arthur
Golumbia, 78, of West Bloomfield. "Other
principals included Jack Schechter, Pat and
Bob Newman, and Betty and Woody Ott
Linda Golumbia, 65, says, "Farmington
Hills was the first location for the Bridge
Connection, but before it could open the
city's Planning Commission scheduled
a meeting to discuss parking and traffic
congestion:'
"We hired an attorney and recruited
over 100 bridge players to attend the
meeting," she says. "We convinced com-
mission members that our bridge facility
would keep seniors active, and we weren't
competing for parking places because
our busiest times are in the evening. Our
certificate of occupancy was approved for
the building on 14 Mile and Farmington
Roads, but we were wrong about the
parking. The first time we scheduled an
afternoon game the room filled and so
did the parking lot:'
In 1999, the Bridge Connection moved
to the basement of a Southfield office

12 July 10 • 2014

bridge, she studied for her June 21
bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield.
"The Bridge Connection has been
around for 22 years, and although bridge
is competitive, it's also a very social
game Petersen says. "About 25 percent
of the players here are very serious. To
most, however, winning isn't everything.
Making lasting friendships and network-
ing is also important to players who want
to enjoy their time at the club:'
Jaime and Jon Zadoff of Royal Oak read
an ad in the Jewish News about a seven-
week beginners bridge class offered at the
Bridge Connection.
"In spite of our friends teasing us for
playing 'an old people's game: we found
that bridge is a game where age doesn't
matter," says Jaime, 33. "And besides, we
found other people our age who play:'
The Zadoffs are now friends with two
of their bridge classmates, Judy and
Harold Osher of Walled Lake, who are in
their mid-60s. "We have a lot in common,
including that Harold and I are both
attorneys:' says Jon, 35. "The four of us
are now friends. We play together at each
other's home and celebrate occasions
together. This game is intergenerational
and even though we've gotten our butts
kicked more than once, we learned a
lot. I think of the Bridge Connection as
`our club' and bridge as athletics for the
brain:'
Jon and Jaime are active Congregation
Shaarey Zedek members and par-
ticipated in the ADL's Glass Leadership
Institute and the Access Group of the AJC
(American Jewish Committee).

Bridge Stats

Geri Spilman of Orchard Lake and Lois Widika of West Bloomfield smile as Carol

Sole of Bloomfield Hills stops to say hi.

building on 12 Mile near Evergreen.
Gradually, three of the principals dropped
out of the business and the Golumbias
were sole owners. Linda Golumbia was
managing partner for the club from its
beginning. She continues to teach and is
a bridge director.
The game of bridge is traced back to
whist, a 17th-century card game in vogue
among the English nobility of the time.
Its popularity spread to other parts of the
world as the rules of the game underwent

many changes by its players. In 1925, the
game we know today was derived from
auction bridge and invented by American
Harold Vanderbilt.
"Managing a bridge club that is open
seven days a week and several evenings
is a full-time job," Linda says. "I enjoyed
the position, but when I began teach-
ing bridge regularly it became difficult.
Selling the club came at the perfect time
for me:'
In between teaching and playing

Labeling bridge as a game for grandpar-
ents is close to the mark. According to
a 2007 survey of 2,000 people from the
165,000 membership of the American
Contract Bridge League (ACBL):
• 16 percent were older than 75
• 62 percent were between the ages of
60 and 70
• 20 percent were between the ages of
40 and 59
• Which leaves just under 2 percent for
those younger than 40
"Nobody goes into this business if they
didn't love playing bridge because you're
not going to get wealthy putting in the
hours we have," Petersen says. "Long
before we moved to our new location on
12 Mile Road, just west of Northwestern
Highway, we knew what we liked and
didn't like at the former location and
looked around for a place that met most
of our requirements and that we could
afford.