You hear that all the time if you play bridge in Greater Grand Forks. Tom Rand, who produces a weekly bridge column Saturdays in the Herald, is generally regarded as the local authority on the grand old game.
He is a soft spoken, thoughtful person who is an associate dean at UND. He is the director at Monday Night Duplicate Bridge played downstairs in the Grand Forks Senior Center. And he has the same role Friday afternoons in the East Grand Forks Senior Center. During summers at Bemidji, Rand finds a place at Saturday duplicate bridge sessions.
Over the years, he has accumulated enough points in tournament play to become a SilverLife Master at bridge.
He used to do some teaching of bridge, but he has been too busy for that. He always has time to answer a question or help a novice player.
Rand has an amazing memory. His bridge partner, Doris Gust, says he will remember a mistake she made 10 years ago. He has an uncanny ability to reconstruct bridge hands that have been played.
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He thinks playing good bridge is a matter of logic and counting. "The other fun part of it is the psychology of the game -- when you try to decide who holds a particular card. You can use mathematics or take a clue from how they acted."
"Putting your mind to it," is a good phrase to describe good bridge play, according to Rand.
Bridge, he acknowledges, is no longer the game of the day, or week or year. While Rand played bridge with his parents in East Grand Forks and later with friends in college, he knows young people today are more likely to be playing computer games.
Most of the people who take up bridge now are those who have just retired.
After his years at Macalester College in St. Paul and the University of Minnesota, Rand went to Harvard School of Divinity. When he returned to this area in 1968, he was doing part-time preaching at nearby Stephen and Argyle, Minn. He started teaching humanities at UND in 1968 and is now Associate Dean in the college of Arts and Sciences.
His daughter, Kathryn Rand, is Dean of the UND School of Law. A son, Douglas, works for Meridien Environmental Technology here. Another son, Steve, works in physical therapy for Altru. Steve and his wife, Ginger, are parents of the three grandchildren of Tom and his wife, Alice Jean.
Alice Jean Rand also plays bridge, but not with the passion and seriousness that Tom takes to the game.
Tom has collected a shelf full of books on bridge. When he gets questions on rules, he most frequently refers to The Bridge Encyclopedia. He says, "It's quite big, very good."
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He's gracious about answering questions. He encourages beginners and newcomers to the bridge circles.
Gone are the days when Grand Forks players hosted Dakota-Manitoba bridge tournaments. But they still are held in Minot and Fargo. Gone are the days when Club 13 bridge club met faithfully at the Grand Forks Country Club. But hundreds -- mostly women -- gather weekly in homes and restaurants in bridge clubs.
Most of them read Rand's columns on bridge. They talk about it during the week. Just recently, Rand discussed how long a person can hesitate before making a play. The gist of the message seemed to be there is no clear cut rule. A player should not hesitate to give a partner information. However, there is no rule on the length of time a player might hesitate and think about a play, Rand wrote recently. It might even be long enough for another player to get up and go to the restroom while waiting.
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.
