Larry Kahn (tiddlywinks)
Lawrence Kahn (born 1953 or 1954[1]) is an American tiddlywinks player. He is the most accomplished tiddlywinks player worldwide in terms of the number of individual worldwide championships as well as the number of pairs worldwide championships.
Biography[edit]
Larry Kahn grew up in North Miami Beach, Florida. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in ocean engineering in 1975. He would later receive a master's degree in the same field in 1976.[1]
In 1984, he was an ocean engineer with Washington Analytical Services in Rockville, Maryland.[2] As of 2016, he worked with the National Institutes of Health, advising them on IT acquisitions.[1]
Tiddlywinks[edit]
Kahn first heard about the game tiddlywinks in 1971 from an MIT handbook sent to incoming students.[1] By 1989, he was the vice president of the North American Tiddlywinks Association and additionally operated a tiddlywinks parlor in Maryland.[3] In the game, he has gone by the nickname "Horsemeat"[1] and "King".[4]
As of 2016, Kahn had won over 100 tiddlywinks championships[1] and held the Guinness World Record for most victories at the English National Championships (eight).[5] As of 2013, he also held the Guinness World Records for "Most Tiddlywinks World Championships" with 21, and "Most Tiddlywinks World Championships (pairs)" with 16.[6] Additionally, he was the only player to have held all six of the game's major titles simultaneously.[1] He has won five international titles competing as a duo with Dave Lockwood.[7]
Lockwood and Kahn frequently compete against each other, with Sports Illustrated once comparing their rivalry to that of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.[1][8] Since the mid-1990s, Kahn has had a World Championship rivalry with English player Patrick Barrie, with the pair contesting 16 matches up to the end of 2019.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Apple, Sam (February 23, 2016). "Unsquoppable". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ Oricchio, Michael (July 2, 1984). "A Game Not to Be Winked At". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ Williams, Lena (November 29, 1989). "MINDLESS FUN". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ Teresi, Dick (December 1, 2007). "You Don't Know Tiddly". Forbes. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ "English National Championships (tiddlywinks)". Guinness World Records. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ Glenday, Craig (2013). Guinness World Records 2013. Bantam Books. p. 193. ISBN 9780345547118.
- ^ Bowman, Emma; Simon, Scott (April 21, 2019). "Not Just Child's Play: World Tiddlywinks Champions Look To Reclaim Their Glory". NPR. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ "TO SQUOP, OR NOT TO SQUOP? WINKS WIZARDS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POND FACE SUCH AGONIZING DILEMMAS EVERY DAY". Sports Illustrated. November 27, 1995. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ "They are the Nadal and Djokovic of their game, but that game is tiddlywinks". Los Angeles Times. December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.