2004 National SCRABBLE® Championship Photos: Final 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 31-001	Daniel Stock (Rocky River, OH) created a 100-tile board to celebrate the finals to come (note the prototype SCRABBLE^® board).
Photo 31-002	2004 National Champ Tiffany bowl.
Photo 31-003	Finals staff members: Martin Smith, volunteer event annotator and assistant to John Chew during the games, Beth Lerman, event annotator, and Kristen Chew, event annotator.
Photo 31-004	Event Annotators: Beth Lerman and Kristen Chew. (JOHN: MOVE THIS PHOTO TO THE ROUND 1 PHOTOS, BETWEEN PHOTO 10 AND 11. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE INCLUDED IN THE STAFF PHOTO AREA)
Photo 31-005	Trey Wright (Los Angeles, CA) and David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC) looking over pre-game paperwork. ESPN camera operators stand around the room.
Photo 31-006	Close-up of Trey Wright (Los Angeles, CA) and [error: no such id: david] in the playing room.
Photo 31-007	NSA webmaster, John J. Chew III, at his laptop, keying in pregame code. Ron Tiekert (Indialantic, FL) stands behind, getting ready to leave the playing room to sit with Stefan Fatsis as they watch the games in the production room.
Photo 31-008	NSA's Ben Lyons with his ESPN headset.
Photo 31-009	Finals word judges, Division 2 leader Mary Rhoades and Division 1 leader Bonnie Rudolph.
Photo 31-010	ESPN's production room. Stefan Fatsis, Trey Wright (Los Angeles, CA), and an ESPN producer, look over the many monitors of different camera angles.
Photo 31-011	The control board. There were other monitors with photos from the gallery room.
Photo 31-012	In the gallery room, an ESPN cameraman focuses on Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) at the mobile microphone in front of the podium and stage. One event commentator, Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) is featured. Notice the partial image of Trey Wright (Los Angeles, CA) on the giant screen.
Photo 31-013	The full panel of commentators: division 4's Andre Ornish (La Mesa, CA) (His team came in second place at the 2004 School SCRABBLE^® Championship last May), and division 1's Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD), Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX).
Photo 31-014	Early on in the first game, NSC organizer, Laura Klein, tries to view the giant screen for a glimpse of the tiles; division 3 leader, Larry Rand, on the scoreboard; NSA's Zack Hample handling the player racks; and Ben Loiterstein Greenwood (Lexington, MA) on the giant board. Ben has ably handled big board duties at several championships and has a job forever as long as he remains 6'2", which ends up being "just right" for reaching the topmost row of tiles!
Photo 31-015	A view from behind the perch occupied by Ben Loiterstein Greenwood (Lexington, MA) on the stage out into the audience.
Photo 31-016	A glimpse of the internet table in front of the rows of seats on the other side of the gallery room. Note the bright lights in the back.
Photo 31-017	An ESPN worker sits crosslegged in front of the internet table which holds one of internet computers, Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) at another internet computer, the NSA's Andrew Rubenstein, and the NSA's Sierce Boldin. In the middle of the first row, in the cap, is Steve Pellinen (St. Louis Park, MN), who was running Maven and giving us helpful board positions throughout.
Photo 31-018	A view of the stage from one end of the gallery room.
Photo 31-019	Board 1 as viewed from the overhead camera in the playing room.
Photo 31-020	Susan Love (Milwaukee, WI) gives the racks from the internet computer (hooked up to John Chew in the playing room) to the Zach Hample at the giant racks across the room via sign language.
Photo 31-021	Finals game 1, Trey Wright (Los Angeles, CA) defeated David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC), 365-328.
Photo 31-022	In the playing room, annotators Gregg Foster (Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA) and Kristen Chew, confer on racks and plays.

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