We're
Number
One!
Vou may not have
notieed \orlli Carolina's
other ACC cham¬
pionship.
By DAN BAItl.OW
Raleigh. The ACC. The national
championship. We’re talking about
last year’s college basketball season,
right? Wrong! We’re talking about
cribbage. With all the hoopla sur¬
rounding the exploits of Jim Valvano’s
Wolfpack. it hasgone nearly unnoticed
that another national championship
will reside in the Tar Heel state this
year: the championship of cribbage.
Cribbage is a fast-paced, two-
handed card game, invented by the
British poet. Sir John Suckling, in
the 17th century. The rules of cribbage
are strange, but very easy to learn, and
those with a mathematical inclination
can become proficient in a short time
— even children. Players keep score
on a peg board, and the winner is the
first to score 121 points (points are
scored mainly for pairs, straights,
flushes, and card combinations that
total 15). A hand can be worth any¬
where from 0 to 29 points, so it’s easy
In ten yeor» the event ho» grown from a mode»*
gathering in the WRAL-TV studio» to one ot the
lorge»t cord tournament» in the country
(above) A possible 16-hond ot the Notionol Open
Cribbogc Tournament in Rolcigh.
(right) Players at the 1983 tournament. Lo»t year's
gathering -os
о
ventoblo Who's Who ot cnbboge.
including 3S4 players from 27 stotes ond Conodo
to fall behind your opponent, and pos¬
sible to make spectacular comebacks.
The Most Coveted Title
Each summer, peggers from Cali¬
fornia to New England converge on
Raleigh to vie for the most coveted title
in cribbage: National Open champion.
The National Open Cribbage Tourna¬
ment is the high point of a cribbage
year that includes about 50 tourna¬
ments nationwide, each sanctioned by
the ACC — the American Cribbage
Congress.
The 1983 Open was the I Oth an¬
niversary of a tournament that has
grown from a modest gathering in the
WRAL television studios, to one of the
largest card tournaments in the coun¬
try. 354 players from 27 states and 2
Canadian provinces entered the event,
held at the Mission Valley Inn and
Conference Center. Governor Hunt
was on hand to welcome a field that
included seven former champions,
three authors of cribbage books, and
even a Senator’s son (Thomas O’Neill,
son of Tip. and one of 19 players from
Massachusetts).
Tar Heel is Champ
After three days of grueling compe¬
tition. homestater Catherine Perkins.
of Bear Creek, emerged as champion.
Mrs. Perkins is the first woman to win
the National Open, and the sixth North
Carolinian (while 60% of the Opens
have been won by Tar Heels, the field
is generally only 35 to 40 percent North
Carolinian). Catherine defeated
Robert Read, of Winter Garden.
Florida, in her final match, and an¬
nounced that the $3000.00 first prize
would go toward a new swimming
pool, to make those hot Bear Creek
summers more bearable.
While the National Open is the
largest cribbage tournament in North
Carolina, it isn’t the only one. Wil¬
mington is the site of an annual tour¬
nament that usually coincides with that
city’s Riveifest celebration, along the
Cape Fear River. And in 1983. North
11
the STATE. February 1984
