Ted Horning

TED HORNING (1940-1999)

One of Canda's all-time great bridge players, Ted Horning, died this morning after a fierce battle with cancer. Ted is survived by his wife Wendy and son Jason.

Ted's death cut short his quest to fulfill two dreams. One was to retire to South Africa, which he and Wendy had visited many times and had fallen in love with. The other was to win the Canadian Bridge Team Championship. Although known for years as Canada's finest pairs player, Ted was justifiably proud of his teams record as well, having reached the finals of the Canadian Championship in 1991, the semifinals on other occasions, and the semifinals of the North American Championship in 1984, and having finished fourth in the Cavendish Invitational Teams in 1997.

In pairs play, Ted won the right to represent Canada in the World Pairs Olympiad many times, and had a tenth and a seventeenth place finish in that, the world's toughest and longest pairs event. In Canadian and North American Pairs Championships there were many wins and top finishes. Ted had the knack of playing well against the best in the world, the best in the country, or the best in the club, whatever the skill of the opposition. He was successful at all levels of competition.

Nevertheless, it is as a partner, teammate and opponent that Ted will be remembered best. In my 28 years partnering Ted at the bridge table (and occasionally as an opponent), he never uttered a critical, contemptuous or angry word to anyone. He was a very ethical, sportsmanlike player who could extract the best game possible from his partner - everyone simply played better with Ted. Ted was indeed a 'class act'. Would that there were more like him.

Other than a short stint with IBM in the sixties and seventies, Ted made his living from bridge his whole life. He was the antithesis of everything the corporate world wanted in its employees - tough, independent, entrepreneurial, unstructured. It was inevitable that he would leave the corporate world to do his own thing. Ted's bridge activities were extremely varied - he owned numerous bridge clubs at different times, played bridge professionally, taught bridge classes, directed games, organized travel groups, was the Toronto Star Syndicate's bridge columnist for 21 years, and was a regular contributor to the Bridge Calendar.

We shall miss you, Ted.

John Carruthers
Monday, July 19, 1999

Listen to the CBC Radio One Tribute to Ted Horning
As It Happens July 20, 1999. 6-8pm, PST.