2004 National SCRABBLE® Championship Photos: Round 1

[ Congratulations to the new National Champion, Trey Wright, who defeated David Gibson in three straight games, 365-328, 355-344 and 429-328. Please tune in to ESPN to watch the final games at 1 P.M. ET on Sunday, October 3rd, 2004. We welcome your e-mailed corrections to our web site. ]

Go to: Before the Tournament Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 Round 12 Round 13 Round 14 Round 15 Round 16 Round 17 Round 18 Round 19 Round 20 Round 21 Round 22 Round 23 Round 24 Round 25 Round 26 Round 27 Round 28 Round 29 Round 30 Final Round 1 Final Round 2 Final Round 3

Photo 01-001	Division leaders and assistants meet before the doors open.
Photo 01-002	The left side of the room from a peephole above the room's entrance doors. Note the stage and bank of pairing computers atop the black stage on the left side.
Photo 01-003	Center view of the playing room before game boxes are even opened. The room never looked this neat again!
Photo 01-004	Right side of playing room from above.
Photo 01-005	The press table to the left of the entrance doors. Note the big board.
Photo 01-006	The Word Gear table full of great SCRABBLE^® -themed gear to the right of the entrance doors. The table never looked this full again!
Photo 01-007	Another view down the middle.
Photo 01-008	Event assistants: Jeannette Rudolph & Emily Goodman (both division 1), Jack Howe (division 2), Torild Ofstad (division 3), Marlene Lashley (division 4), Beverly Beane (division 5), Sunshine Lewis (division 6), and Antoinette Sealy (division 7).
Photo 01-009	Division Leaders: Bonnie Rudolph (division 1), Mary Rhoades (division 2), Larry Rand (division 3), Bryan Pepper (division 4), Wendell Smith (division 5), Matt Hopkins (division 6), and John Robertson (division 7).
Photo 01-010	The computer staff: Jeff Widergren (Los Gatos, CA), the program creator, Christina Coughlin (divisions 6 & 7), Howard Turkenkopf (division 2), Fleurette Turkenkopf (division 1), William Saines (division 5), Tony Wilson (division 3), and Ashvin Shah (division 4).
Photo 01-011	All in their places with bright shiny faces: John Robertson, division 7 leader, and Antoinette Sealy, his helper.
Photo 01-012	Waiting outside to come in!
Photo 01-013	Division 6's Deborah Light (Napanee ON) uses her credit card sized light to illuminate the morning's pairings.
Photo 01-014	Chuck Armstrong (Saline, MI) prepares to enter the playing room.
Photo 01-015	The players rush in.
Photo 01-016	More players move in and Harriette Lakernick (Chicago, IL) tries to avoid the camera.
Photo 01-017	Robin Bowles (Lake Oswego, OR), Stan Miranda (Albuquerque, NM), and Susan Love (Milwaukee, WI) stop to visit in the room's entrance.
Photo 01-018	Fashion contributors: Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY) in her "deadwood" hat (she was making a statement about a top division player who thought the division had too many low-rated players) and Diane Firstman (Brooklyn, NY) in her "What Would Joel Do?" T-shirt.
Photo 01-019	Frank Lee (Cincinnati, OH) and Ann Sanfedele (New York, NY) work their way to the other end of the room and their tables.
Photo 01-020	"Where am I playing again?" Players mill around their division boards trying to get the lay of the pairings.
Photo 01-021	A crowd around the division boards.
Photo 01-022	Player cards yet to be picked up with orange (division 1) in the foreground.
Photo 01-023	From the middle looking down toward division 3, 4, 6, and 7.
Photo 01-024	From the middle looking up the room to division 5, 1, and 2.
Photo 01-025	The NSA's John D. Williams, Jr., and current reigning National SCRABBLE^® Champion, Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY).
Photo 01-026	One of the WordJudge-equipped laptops on an oyster table in the middle aisle of the playing room.
Photo 01-027	An NSA Word Gear product put into service at the WordJudge table.
Photo 01-028	Players in division 5 removing the cellophane on their new deluxe sets.
Photo 01-029	Korakoch Kiatsommart (Winter Park, FL) and Daniel Stock (Rocky River, OH) remove the board components from the game box in division 2.
Photo 01-030	Charles Merlis (West Hartford, CT), in division 2.
Photo 01-031	Hair sticks that match the division color, now that is coordination!
Photo 01-032	Betsey Wood (Concord, MA) in division 5.
Photo 01-033	Laura Klein, NSC Coordinator, makes opening comments.
Photo 01-034	A challenging first game draw for Daniel Wachtell (New York, NY) as he faces off with Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) in division 1.
Photo 01-035	Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) vs. Jonn Dalton (Austin, TX), division 1.
Photo 01-036	James Leong (Vancouver BC) vs. Laurie Cohen (Tempe, AZ) (back), and Carol Kaplan (San Diego, CA) vs. Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD). Notice Marlon's chair position.
Photo 01-037	Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) fills in his racks after the game finishes. He defeated Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY) this round.
Photo 01-038	Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn (Thailand) flips through a word list book.
Photo 01-039	Rebecca Slivka (Seattle, WA) vs. Bernard Gotlieb (Cote Saint-Luc QC). See commentary.
Photo 01-040	Peter Schwartzman (Galesburg, IL) successfully challenges Sammy Okosagah's (Baltimore, MD) play of SPAINS# using a WordJudge laptop.
Photo 01-041	?

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