About The Bridge Center of st paul

 Dick Baker began the St Paul Bridge Club and held games in various locations including Stillwater, Hastings, 3M, Century College and more. He would drag the boards and bridge supplies, coffee pot, and cups. Soon he sought a permanent location, however, he needed financial support and found donors in Bob Lakken, Bob Steinfeld, Dean & Mary Ann Cook, Marlene Kasmirski-Stronge, and Linda Delzell. With this funding, he bought tables and chairs, some of which are still used. He rented the space at English & Hwy 36, designed the layout: office, cloakroom, kitchen, bathrooms, and smoker (back in the days when smoking indoors was still allowed).

Dick did the directing, teaching, and preparing lunches and dinners with the help of volunteers. When Dick had bad times, he always said Bridge cured him. He died in 1996, but the club continued.In the late 1990s the club incorporated and became a federally recognized 501(c)7 not-for-profit organization, with the new name Bridge Center of St Paul and governed by a member elected Board of Directors.

Since the English Street location, the club has been on Frost Ave, near English, in the now demolished mall on 10th and 694 in Oakdale where Hy-Vee is, behind Luther Auctions in North St Paul, and now the current Roseville location.  We promote and offer Duplicate Bridge instruction, and pair & team games for all levels (9-10 games per week), and tournaments in a clean, welcoming and friendly club atmosphere in the St Paul Metro area.

We have a great staff of directors including two ACBL Tournament Directors. Our manager and lead director is Kimberly Hayward. Our assistant manager is Larry Huiras. Both also work for the ACBL. Our other directors include Todd Flowerday, Jackson Wahl, Jerry Johnson and Steve Gaynor. Our Board of Directors for 2024-2025 is comprised of President Jeff Walker, Vice President David Gustafson, Treasurer Dan McIntyre, Secretary Joe Carter and Member-at-large Rolf Hubmayr. Our Intermediate/Novice Liasons to the Board are Kris Verdin and Ellen Kluz. Everyone at the club is part of the family and makes the whole system work - we have a wonderful community and welcome everyone to join us.

As we are a non-profit, our management team runs the club on a day-to-day basis, but our very important board of directors guides us into our future and through the big decisions. Each June we accept nominations for positions. All club members can serve. Normally, every year 2 or 3 directors will finish their terms. July 1 we send out electronic ballots and by July 31 we have our top candidates. Those elected begin their terms at the August meeting when the board appoints officers. Our board usually meets monthly. Board members help with running tournaments and our Annual Meeting each year.