Dorothy Hayden Truscott

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Dorothy Hayden Truscott (November 3, 1925—July 4, 2006) was the top-ranked woman in bridge for many years and authored or co-authored books on the game.

Mrs. Truscott was born Dorothy Johnson in New York City. She graduated from Smith College and briefly taught mathematics in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her first two marriages ended in divorce. In 1972 she married Alan Truscott, who wrote a column on bridge for The New York Times.

Her parents, Dorothy and Reginald Johnson, were keen bridge players and taught their daughter the game when she was 7 years old. Mrs. Truscott would normally watch her mother play the game, but her father would allow her to bid and play his hand when he poured drinks. One evening a player was late, and she was allowed to fill in. That introduction made her a "bridge addict" for the remainder of her life.

Mrs. Truscott won four world titles as a player: the Venice Cup in 1974, 1976 and 1978, and the Women's Team Olympiad in 1980. She was the nonplaying captain of the winning American team at the 1989 Venice Cup.

She won the first of her national titles in 1959.

In 1965 Mrs. Truscott became the second woman to play for the United States in the Bermuda Bowl. She was one of the main accusers in a major bridge scandal that involved allegations of cheating brought against the British pair of Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro.

Mrs. Truscott is the only female player to have won a medal in the World Open Pairs, where she won a bronze medal in 1966. She won a world silver medal at the Bermuda Bowl in 1965 and bronze medals at Women's Team Olympiads in 1968, 1972 and 1976 and the Women's Pairs in 1962 and 1974.

She wrote two books on bridge that became best-sellers: Winning Declarer Play in 1969 and Bid Better, Play Better in 1970. She co-authored two books with her husband Alan Truscott: Teach Yourself Basic Bidding in 1976-1977 and The New York Times Bridge Book in 2002. Among new ideas attributed to Truscott are an unusual jump to show a singleton or void along with support in partner's suit (a splinter bid) and responses to Blackwood after interference (DOPI). Both of the systems are now commonly found in bridge partnerships worldwide.

She also published a historical novel in 2002, Hell Gate, about early Dutch settlers in Harlem.

Mrs. Truscott died in New Russia, New York, of complications from Parkinson's disease.