Bob was the consummate family man. He married his teenage sweetheart, Joyce, and in 62 years that blossomed to produce 3 children, several grand children, and several more great grand children.

     This will be a look at the real Bob Armstrong as told by a non family member … his bridge partner.

     Before I tell you about Bob, the Bridge Player you think you know, I should tell you a little about Bob, the Numismatic Dealer. 

     Bob made his living as a Coin and Currency dealer and over 50 years became a legend in Canada’s Coin & Currency community. In fact, his honesty and knowledge in dealing with people and coins made it hard for him to retire. Even after he announced his retirement, people and other dealers still called him up and asked him to appraise their collections before they put them on the market. Bob had a very distinctive printing style and his notations on a coins jacket were taken as gospel! If Bob Armstrong had evaluated this coin, that was as good as it got. It was like the royal seal of approval accepted by all of his peers. 
 
     But it was as a bridge player that I knew Bob best. What was Bob really like as a bridge player and as a person? Make no mistake Bob was a superb bridge player. The statistics prove it. Two 81%  sanctioned  games  and several Regional Pairs Championships. 
     Most serious and competitive bridge players try to achieve the status of “Life Master” in their lifetime. To do so you have to earn a minimum of 300 masterpoints from the ACBL (the American Contract Bridge League). 50 of those points must be earned outside of your home club at Sectional Tournaments. In addition you also must earn 25 Red Points and 25 Gold Points that can only be won at Regional or National Tournaments.  The ACBL want to make sure you have earned the title! Bob didn’t just have 300 points … he had in excess of 3000 points which qualified him as a “Gold Life Master” and also meant that he was in the top 6% of all the Bridge players in North America and I did say North America not just Canada!

     Well, if you really want to find out what a person is really like you need to play a really competitive game with him whether it’s golf or competitive bridge or any other competitive game. How honest, aggressive, and emotionally secure a person is, usually comes out. How does that person react to adversity? Will he use a “Foot Wedge” to get out of a tough spot or doctor a score or “lose it” if things don’t go well? What is he willing to compromise or sacrifice in order to do well?

     People can usually put on a good front in a 15 minute job interview but. when you’re playing a good, competitive game, a person’s real personality tends to come out.

     Well, as you would suspect, he was scrupulously honest, a trait that made him such a well-respected coin dealer. But Bob, the Gambler, also lurked just below the surface when he made some absolutely jaw-dropping bids. They were well thought out and usually successful but, if you were his partner, it was good to have some stress tabs handy for just such occasions.

     What was also revealed was Bob, the compassionate opponent. Our opponent at the bridge table might go down 3 in a perfectly makeable contract and Bob could be counted on to point out the terrible trump split the person had to deal with, or the bad luck, or the poor lighting … whatever.

     However, Bob was not perfect and did have some very discernable flaws. A look at Bob Armstrong would not be complete without looking at his swearing during a bridge game. The Cincinnati Reds baseball manager, Bryan Price, once went on a rant at the reporters about what he thought was their poor reporting of his team and in a 5:36 minute interview he used the “F” word 77 times and the “S” word over 50 times. 
     Having been one of his partners for many years, I can attest that I have NEVER heard Bob use either the “F” or the “S” word … but I have heard him use the “O” word. Such as, “Oh Oh” when a trump suit breaks badly or “Oh Dear” when we have made an absolute mess of the bidding and landed in an absolutely stupid contract.

In Summary … Bob was more or less what you thought you saw and heard … a true gentleman … intelligent, well-mannered, and sensitive with a partially-hidden gambling streak.

     You know … Bob Armstrng would have made a terrible movie director . Can’t you just see him on the set of the Titanic instructing the captain to look at the camera and exclaim “Oh Oh!” or “Oh Dear!” as the frigid water rushed in and started to fill the ship … or to instruct Clark Gable in the final scene of “Gone With The Wind” to say “Frankly Scarlet, I know how you must feel … you’ve had some really bad luck!”

      Yeah, Bob would made a terrible movie director but he made a great person to be around and an awesome friend. The world is not nearly as good a place to live in without Bob Armstrong.