2012 WBC Sportsmanship Award
Sept. 10, 2013

The Sportsmanship Award is BPA’s top honor since it is something we can all aspire to and is within our reach regardless of our skills. It reminds us that there is no fun to be had in gaming without affable opposition providing obstacles to overcome. Our winner always prizes camaraderie and fair play and offers a shining example of sportsmanship that we should all strive to emulate.

Our winner was selected from among many nominees put forth by GMs and other commentators whose recommendations were considered and reduced to a field of 22 worthies included on our annual Membership Drive ballot for selection by the membership at large. All received varying amounts of support with over 300 votes cast. 

This year’s contest was a two-Peter duel which came down to the last vote with each garnering 13% of the vote. Our two protagonists were Britain’s Peter Eldridge and WBC’s lovable Kremlin loser and gall bladder transplant candidate Pete Stein. Peter Eldridge’s nomination resulted from his quarterfinal match in Battle Cry. Having "won" the match, he discovered that he had misplayed a rule resulting in an errant flag loss for his opponent. He located his opponent and continued the game from that point, eventually losing the replay.

Pete Stein, on the other hand, had lost his Final in March Madness when both players realized that they had forgotten to modify a score by a played card that would have resulted in the game ending in a tie—leaving Pete with a big advantage in overtime. Rather than recreate the situation from the point of the error, Pete volunteered to take an easier fix that greatly lessened his chance of winning.

Both owed their nominations to chivalrous behavior in close contests and the Sportsmanship Award was ultimately decided in an election  which was every bit as evenly matched and ultimately decided by a single vote. In becoming our first foreign Sportsmanship winner, Peter Eldridge demonstrated that we colonials had finally forgiven that little matter of burning our capital during the War of 1812. Or, perhaps given the cynical nature of our current politics, he was rewarded for his ancestors’ foresight. In any case, Mr. Eldridge will receive a free room at the next WBC in addition to being admitted to our Sportsmanship Hall of Fame.

Other nominees who fared well in the membership vote were Barry Shutt who finished third with 9% of the vote, Roger Taylor at 8%, and Evan Hitchings and John Sharp with 7% each.

 

Past Sportsmanship Winners

Chuck Stapp
1992—NJ

Tiger Von Pagel
1993—FL

Rob Kilroy
1994—PA

Ian Lange
1995—AE

Jim Matt
1996—MI

Ed Connery
1997—NJ

Frank Sinigaglio
1999- NJ

Robert Sacks
2000—NY

Bret Hildebran
2001—OH

Kaarin Engelmann
2002, 2008—VA

James Jordan
2003—MD

Steve Okonski
2004—MD
Bruno Sinigaglio
2005—AK
Phil Barcafer
2006—PA
Rebecca Hebner
2007—CO
Mark Yoshikawa
2009—CA
John Emery
2010—SC
Larry Lingle
2011—PA
Peter Eldridge
2011—UK
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