Samuel Stayman

Samuel Stayman

Samuel M. (Sam) Stayman (May 28, 1909, Worcester, Massachusetts – December 11, 1993, Palm Beach, Florida) was an American bridge player, author and administrator. A graduate of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College, he was also a successful textile executive and portfolio investment manager.

He was the eponym of the Stayman convention. The convention was in fact invented (independently) by Jack Marx and by Stayman's regular partner, George Rapée. It was first published by Stayman, however, in an article he wrote for The Bridge World magazine in June 1945 and thereby became associated with his name. Stayman also gave his name, spelled backward, to the Namyats convention, invented by another partner, Victor Mitchell.

A World Bridge Federation Grand Master, he and George Rapée, Charles Goren, Howard Schenken, John R. Crawford and Sidney Silodor won the inaugural Bermuda Bowl in 1950 and repeated in 1951 and 1953; he won numerous national titles. As a bridge administrator, he was President of the Cavendish Club of New York, treasurer of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) from 1966 to 1969 and also served on its Charity Foundation; he was recognized as an honorary member of the ACBL in 1969 and of the American Bridge Teachers Association (ABTA) in 1979 having authored several books on bridge. He was elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1996.