William F. Ryan (1907–1954), nicknamed The Bronx Comet, was an American checkers player who won national titles in both 1939 and 1946. He counted

Sam Gonotsky Samuel Gonotsky (born in the Russian Empire, 1902; emigrated to the United States, 1906; died in Hurley Hospital, Detroit, of pleural tuberculosis, April 5, 1929) was a leading American checkers, or English draughts, player in the Two-Move Era (186 ...

as a mentor and friend. He was known as the champion of "blindfold checkers" and wrote several books on the game. He also worked on a draughts magazine and once played against musician

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

. He died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

in 1954.Checker World Profile
/ref>

References

American checkers players People from the Bronx 1907 births 1954 deaths {{NewYork-bio-stub