Nominees | Past Winners

While lots of people get caught up in the quest for “wood,” the folks listed below subscribe to a higher standard. These are the sportsmen and women of the WBC…the shining example of sportsmanship that we should all aspire to. These folks are the ones that make it all bearable for our GMs and contribute most to the friendly atmosphere of the convention. Their shining example contributes to the remarkable esprit de corps and camaraderie for which the WBC has always been noted.

Nominations are not accepted for individuals who conceded a victory to allow a beaten opponent to continue in an event in their place. While a player who allows another to play on in "his" place may well have good intentions, doing so is contrary to the purpose of a tournament. A player who concedes a won game is circumventing the rules of the event by dispensing byes in a non-random, unearned manner and is actually committing an unsportsmanlike act in the eyes of some. Such a kindness bestowed upon one player is actually grossly unfair to the other participants who had to win their right to advance and tarnishes the event as a true test of skill.

So without any further ado, let’s present the class of 2007—and a classy group it is, too. The following individuals were just some of the many nominated for the reasons indicated below and owe their appearance here to both their own demeanor and the fervancy of their sponsors in relating it to BPA. Doubtless there are many more good sports at WBC than those we can acknowledge here. We limit the nominees to those endorsed by WBC GMs for outstanding sportsmanship and further reduce their number by selecting only the most fervent endorsements. These are supplemented by the Board of Directors and Convention Director.

As is our practice, all prospective BPA members are urged to vote for one of sportsmanship nominees listed below when submitting their 2008 membership form and voting for new Trial Events. All ballots are due by Jan. 1, 2008. Reward a good sport with our biggest prize…free lodging at the next WBC.

2007 Nominees

Air Baron: Richard Curtin kept his cool in the face of two bankruptcies and three crashes.

B-17/Wooden Ships & Iron Men: Young Andrew Chitwood played with class and cheer throughout five rounds of Wooden Ships despite being outclassed by far more experienced opponents. Indeed, he could have taught some of his elders somehing about grace under fire. Our B-17 GM echoed those comments in praise of his youngest pilot.

Battlegroup: Andrew Fedin allowed other players to take a mulligan after making a mistake.

Circus Maximus: Rebecca Hebner gave up playing Circus Maximus (and was mocked by her fellow charioteers) when the GM for the Juniors event was delayed. She helped organize and instruct the Juniors and started and ran the tournament until the GM arrived, giving up her personal gaming time and opportunity to advance.

Formula Motor Racing: Ron Wuerth volunteered as an Ass't GM to oversee the Final so that the GM could participate.

Gettysburg: Greg Smith is always the gentleman; willing to teach others the game and play anyone at any time regardless of whether that opponent will help or hinder his own advancement - a big factor in Free Form scheduling.

Ingenius: Tedd Mullally pointed out the availability of a new row when a 4th player joined the game, immediately hurting his own chances.

Kremlin: In Kremlin, things are rarely as they first seem, but even veteran gulag watchers were taken aback after Phillip Yaure had been handed the plaque and congratulated for his victory only to discover that Pete Stein's math skills were a little rusty and, uh, he actually won because he controlled that politician after all. Poor Phillip fell to fifth but took it all in good grace. As for Pete - well, you can't expect an accountant to actually add correctly, can you?

Merchant of Venus: Stephen Westerholm stood out amongst a sea of good sports by always being helpful to the GM and fellow players, and pointing out obvious blunders.

Monsters Ravage America: Steve Scott qualified for the Final in this event which allowed play of two different versions of the game - Ravage or Menace. As it happened, Steve was inexperienced at Menace and his three opponents were less experienced with Ravage so he opted to play Menace instead despite Ravage being the default version of the game. The differences in the game led to a few mistakes on his part but he declined "do-overs" when offered by his opponents.

Mystery of the Abbey: Chuck Halberstadt was the defending champion in this event but he sat at a six-player game with first-time players and helped them with rules for a very long game while displaying great patience and attitude in ushering his new players through their first Mystery.

Pillars of the Earth: Steve Fitchett made his game available for a second heat even though he would not be playing when the event came up short of games.

Rail Baron: Louis Gehring was nominated by his fellow players for continuing in a long game to play out a hopeless situation without complaint so as not to influence the outcome for the other players.

Saratoga: William Cooper taught game to a newbie as they played, and wound up getting crushed.  Newbie wanted Bill to advance, but Bill maintained he had been beaten fair and square.

Titan 2-Player: Despite language barriers, Hide Hisanaga impressed all he met with his courtesy and demeanor. Our visitor from Japan could teach us a few things about how to roll with the punches that fate has in store and come up smiling.

Twilight Struggle: For his valuing a quality play experience over "win at any cost", and his charity to his opponent, even at a late stage of the tournament when a chance at final victory was in sight, Bruce Wigdor receives my vote for this year's sportsmanship award. In a quarter-final match, his opponent played Olympics as an event at DEFCON 2, permitting Bruce to declare a coup against a battleground country, thus bringing about nuclear war and victory for Bruce. Instead Bruce opted to allow his opponent to take back the play. The game went on until Final Scoring, ending in a draw -- which, by tournament rule, would be resolved with a die roll. Bruce lost the die roll and was eliminated from the tournament, but never expressed any regret about his earlier decision.

We The People: Randall MacInnis sacrificed his own chances to coach new players in the novice bracket. He did his job so well, that one of his graduates advanced to the quarter-finals.

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 - VA
James Jordan 2003 - MD	Steve Okonski 2004 - MD	Bruno Sinigaglio 2005 - AK	Phil Barcafer 2006 - PA