Back to Mike Wise

From: Zev Kaufman <zev@interlog.com>
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 00:18:03 -0400
Subject: mike wise
Message-id: <35C539FB.7475@interlog.com>

Mike was the heart and soul of the Toronto Scrabble Club. He ran the club fairly and effectively. He was a great Director. But more then that, Mike went out of his way to help. Shortly after I joined the club in 1981, I realized that if I wanted to improve at this game I'd have to compete in tournaments, which were nearly always held over weekends.This presented a major problem for me as I am an Orthodox Jew and don't write or handle clocks on Saturday - my Sabbath. I went to Mike and explained my problem to him. I really didn't expect much because the rules of the game were clearly spelled out and I was asking for a major exception. He said he'd think about it. A couple of weeks later he presents me with a 10 page handwritten document which he had prepared (after long and careful consideration) outlining conditions which would allow me to play on Saturday - conditions which he felt would give neither myself or my opponents any unfair advantages. He then went to bat for me at the N.S.A. to get them to approve his proposal - which they thankfully did. If Mike had not gone way out of his way to do this for me, I would have had to simply drop out of Scrabble. I owe the last 16+ years of fond Scrabble memories to him. Thanks again, MIke. I wiil miss you.

Zev Kaufman