John Yocum Randolph Crawford (August 4, 1915 – February 14, 1976) was an American bridge and backgammon player.
In bridge, he was a member of United States teams that won the first three Bermuda Bowls, or world championships, in 1950, 1951 and 1953; a wholly new team represented the US in 1954. In backgammon, Crawford is known as the inventor of the "Crawford rule", a regulation that restricts use of the doubling cube in match play.
Life
Crawford was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and died in Manhattan at age 60. He was married to Carol Crawford.
Books
Canasta (New York: JCS Associates, 1950; London: Faber, 1951) Samba, three-deck canasta (Doubleday, 1951) How to be a consistent winner in the most popular card games (Doubleday, 1953); revised 1961 Contract bridge (Grosset & Dunlap, 1953), Crawford assisted by Fred L. Karpin Calypso: how to play and win the fascinating new card game (Doubleday, 1955) The backgammon book (Viking Press, 1970), Oswald Jacoby and Crawford
The latter was soon translated. Das Backgammonbuch, German transl. by Jens Schmidt-Prange and Suzanne Gangloff (Munich: Keyser, 1974) Le livre du backgammon, French transl. by René Orléan, 1975
Bridge accomplishments
Honors
ACBL Hall of Fame, 1995
Awards
Fishbein Trophy 1952, 1957
Herman Trophy 1953
Wins
Bermuda Bowl (3) 1950, 1951, 1953
North American Bridge Championships (37) Vanderbilt (9) 1941, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 Spingold (5) 1943, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1957 Chicago (now Reisinger) (10) 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1961 Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1956, 1961 Master Mixed Teams (4) 1942, 1945, 1948, 1957 Life Master Pairs (1) 1943 Men's Pairs (1) 1939 Rockwell Mixed Pairs (3) 1948, 1949, 1959 Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1945 Master Individual (1) 1956
Runners-up
Bermuda Bowl (1) 1958
North American Bridge Championships (27) Vanderbilt (1) 1952 Spingold (4) 1939, 1947, 1955, 1961 Chicago (now Reisinger) (2) 1948, 1950 Men's Board-a-Match Teams (4) 1946, 1948, 1959, 1973 Master Mixed Teams (6) 1944, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1973, 1975 Life Master Pairs (5) 1938, 1941, 1947, 1952, 1956 Men's Pairs (1) 1953 Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 1947 Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1942 Master Individual (2) 1951, 1958
References
External links
"John Crawford – The Table Games Genius" at Backgammon Portal (backgommoned.com)