BOB MENDENHALL'S LAST LESSON

by Paul Barchilon

June 23, 2003

Bob Mendenhall died on Saturday, June 14. He was my teacher, he was my opponent and he was my friend. Bob, who succumbed after a six month battle with cancer, is survived by his wife and two young children. Bob had a more than thirty-year love affair with go and before he died he revolutionized our go club. I can think of no more fitting memorial for him than to share his story with the larger go community in the hopes of inspiring them to action. 

When I first came to the Boulder Go Club in Colorado, I hadn't played in over 12 years and I was very nervous. The club was small and comprised entirely of dan-level players and just a few high-kyu players. Everyone there gave me nine stones to begin with. As anyone who has tried to learn go knows it can be extremely daunting to learn in such a challenging environment. As a result the club had stayed small and insular for over 25 years. I was one of the few who persevered and became a regular member. I remember the first time Bob talked to me. I had been coming for a couple of months and I guess he figured he should find out about me. Quite suddenly, at the end of a game with another player, Bob turned to me and said, 'Ira tells me I have to play you" (Ira was another dan player in our club). This was the first of what would be many games, and eventually Bob sort of took me on as his informal pupil. He was endlessly creative and would do fun things like letting me have fewer handicap stones but agreeing to answer any question I asked. He would still usually win though, as I found I had to ask the right questions. 

Bob had so much fun teaching me that he decided to start a go study group for new players. He would talk to any new players right off the bat and get their e-mail address. One of our students laughingly referred to the group as "Go!Bob!Go!" and the name stuck. Over the next couple of years the group met biweekly or monthly and came to 
include over fifty players. We went over game records and played "team go", where all the people on a team openly discussed what they thought were the best moves. Bob was always there to tell us if we were completely off-base or that so-and-so had the right idea. Bob always said that it was the quality of the discussion itself that was the most influential on our growth. A great number of the new players stuck with the game because they had other people close to their level to play with and instruction and support from a 3-dan with a brilliant mind. Our small go club of about 12 regular players blossomed into a much larger group and at times we have had over thirty people playing at once, with many more coming occasionally.

When Bob learned he had cancer he didn't know how long he would have, but he knew he wanted to keep the club going. Although we met less frequently, Bob continued to hold sessions even as he was undergoing chemotherapy. He became too weak to go to go club, but I would come over to his house and he would play me or go over my game records if he wasn't up to playing. We kept adjusting the handicap to try to compensate for his level of impairment but somehow, as usual, he almost always won. Just two weeks before he died he decided to throw an impromptu Go!Bob!Go! session and pancake breakfast at his house. After an initial round of activities he said he needed a little break and went to take a nap. After he didn't come back for a while we all decided to let him know that it was OK and we would be going. He surprised us all by rallying and ended up playing a three-way simultaneous game against teams of players. I think he won two out of three of them.

I introduced Hikaru no Go to Bob and his kids and they all became addicts. After he died, his nine year old daughter Caitlin told me that she wants to reach shodan. I told her I would come to play with her and her younger brother and that when she grew up she would be able to find Bob in her games just like Hikaru found Sai in his. We have 
some of Bob's game records in his Palm Pilot and I look forward to being able to share them with the kids when they are at the right level.

Here is what I take from Bob's last lesson: none of us know how long we have to be here. The future of go rests with all the new players out there, so all of you dan players, welcome new players and start a study group for them. Share your knowledge and love of go and it will spread very far indeed. Set aside June 14th as a go holiday and throw a go party for Bob. Reach out to new players and always remember how much one person can achieve.

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