Kendall-Hamlin card tournament provides fun and fellowship during bleak of winter

Kendall takes the title this year of tournament that started in 1954

Photos by Tom Rivers

KENDALL – Kendall and Hamlin capped a three-week euchre tournament on Wednesday when 74 card players gathered at the Kendall fire hall.

This group in front includes Bill Hardenbrook, right, and his son Brian Hardenbrook, second from left, who were on the Kendall team. They are playing Ken Jurs, left, of Hamlin and John Hurd, second from left.

The tournament started in 1954 when a group of farmers from Kendall and Hamlin stopped to play cards after attending a farm show in Rochester.

They had so much fun playing cards and drinking beer that the euchre tournament became an annual event. It remains popular and has expanded from a one-evening tournament to being spread over three Wednesday in the dead of winter.

“It’s just the camaraderie,” said Ken Jurs of Hamlin, who estimates he has been playing in the tournament for 35 years.

Jurs said many of the Kendall and Hamlin residents know each other quite well. His grandfather, Walter Jurs, was Kendall’s highway superintendent.

The tournament still includes many farmers but it has opened up to the entire community. The action alternated from Kendall to Hamlin and then back to Kendall again for the conclusion last night. The players pay $10 each night and at includes beer or soda. The first two nights it also includes a boiled Zweigle’s hot dog.

John Becker, left, is the chairman for the tournament for Kendall while Dave Leverenz serves as Hamlin’s chairman. Becker welcomes the players to Kendall and asks how many want to order a fish fry at The Grove 1848. The losing team had to pay the $10 charge for the fish fry for the winners.

Kendall emerged as the victor of the tournament after the results were tallied over the three weeks. Kendall defeated Hamlin by 158 points – 4437 to 4279.

 All three nights of card playing brought out at least 70 people, which was up from the 50s and 60s last year.

There were 72 card players on Jan. 22, followed by 76 on Jan. 29 and 74 on Feb. 5.

John Becker thinks the tournament peaked with more than 80 players in the 1970s. He is pleased to see the tournament remains popular, and to see some younger people getting involved.

Becker has been part of the tournament since 1977, a year after he moved to Kendall and joined the fire department.

“Back in those days everybody played cards,” Becker said.

The tournament was sidelined one year, back in 2021 due to Covid restrictions. Otherwise the players keep coming back, year after year.

Becker doesn’t know of any other euchre tournament that has endured for so long that is a town versus town.

“It’s a fun evening,” he said. “They come here and we go there. It’s nice to see the two towns have a relationship and a friendship.”