From both sides of the border, top-ranking bridge players arrived in Toronto last week for the Toronto Whist Club's annual championship tournament. To run the show, the Whist Club imported Al Sobel of New York, the American Contract Bridge League's national tournament director. At headquarters in the Royal York Hotel, Director Sobel accepted 305 entrants. But he balked on the 306th. No. 306 was Leon Beard, 43, a Trinidad civil servant studying surveying at the University of Toronto. Reason for rejection: Leon Beard is a Negro.
A good bridge player, Beard had tried to enter the tournament at the invitation...
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