It is not usual for events to be named after players who are still competing at the top level.  The Victor Champion Cup (which began in 1953 as a round robin of all teams eliminated before the finals of the Open and Women’s Interstate Teams) was an exception.  Victor Champion (1908-1974) would captain a Victorian team at the Interstate, several times more with the last occasion being in 1961.

The recognition given to ‘Champ’ reflected his dominance in Victorian and Australian bridge from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s, which saw the rise of NSW teams and pairs.

Between 1934 and 1961 he was the captain of sixteen Victorian teams which won seven Australian championships.  He was winning captain three times in a row in 1934 to 1936 – an achievement surpassed only by Bill Schaufelberger in 1947-50.

Click here to read the entire Victor Champion biography.