TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS

Not Really!

Last evening Bobby and I had dinner with Windy City residents Eunice and Billy Rosen who vacation in Vegas about two months every year.  Until recently, I only knew them casually through their friendship with Edgar and Norman but because Bobby’s late wife, Debby, was from Chicago and Billy and Bobby were more or less world-class contemporaries — the men shared a lot in common.

In 1954, Billy was the youngest player to win the Bermuda Bowl at age 25 — a record he retained until broken in 1981 by Bobby Levin. The following year he finished second in the same event and went on to capture many other distinguished titles until his retirement in the Eighties.  Billy enjoyed a successful career on the Chicago Board of Options from 1975-1995 — choosing to slow down to enjoy a family life, travel extensively and pursue his love of golf (and still does at the resilient age of 81).

Though Bobby and Billy were only like passing ships in the night for thirty or so years, last evening it was obvious they certainly shared a major bond –commiserating, exchanging hands and trading stories about the likes of Jais and Trezel; Reese and Schapiro; the ‘exalted’ Blue Team and a few of our own  American contenders with less than lily-white hands.    Sadly, decades don’t always dim or eradicate the painful frustration of knowingly being "had" — but life goes on.