I Saw An Old Man Cry
I saw an old man cry, Sunday.
If you’ve ever been to a major scholastic tournament in Wisconsin, you’ve seen Ed Marquardt. He’s been on the scenes for more decades than I can remember. When he tells kids about how the rules changed for the Bishop move, his kids believe him because most think he was probably there when it happened.
Then again, maybe he was. The man is ageless, timeless.
And his kids love him. It’s easy to see why. You couldn’t find his ego with a microscope. For the dean of Marion chess, it’s all about the kids. It’s all about teaching and encouraging the kids, helping them figure out how to play this crazy game we all love. And figure it out they do. His top player is also the Denker rep for the state of Wisconsin.
The last time I saw Ed I threatened him. He’d said to me earlier that 1200 (-rated) coaches can’t hope to compete with 2200 or 1700 coaches. This was just before his team handed mine our first defeat of the tournament. (That was usually Madison West’s job, but they had fallen short this year, and that match was drawn.) When I next saw him, I said if I ever caught him saying something that ridiculous again, I’d slap him silly.
And there were tears in his eyes. His kids were holding down top board against Madison West; the partial match score at the time was 18-3. In his favor. His kids were standing toe-toe with the state’s perennial chess power, and weren’t blinking. All they needed was a draw in one of the two remaining games, and the title would be theirs. And Ed was so proud of them he could barely see.
I saw an old man cry Sunday. And knowing it was our loss that put him in that position somehow lessened the pain of losing. My disappointment, his pride. The one washed the other and made it seem somehow more than simply tolerable, it was altogether just and fitting.
Unfortunately, in this story Cinderella never finds her slipper. She doesn’t get to marry the prince and live happily ever after. I wish I could report otherwise, but both games fell to Madison West, who won the match 22-18 and with it the title, for the fifth time in the last seven years.
But the crosstable will forever show that little Marion went into the final round in first place. Cinderella came to the ball, and got her chance to dance.
I saw an old man cry Sunday. And it couldn’t happen to a sweeter man.