Orlando Campos

Orlando "Ollie" Campos (1925^[1]–1994^[2]) was an Indian bridge player.

Campos was the mainstay of the famous Ruia team that dominated the Indian bridge scene from 1958 through the late seventies.^[2] He represented India in seven world championships and two zonal championships.^[1] His 22 national wins include open teams twice and open pairs once.^[1] He has been featured in many bridge publications, the most recent being a hand featured in the book Easier Done Than Said: Brilliancy at the Bridge Table by Dr. Prakash K. Paranjape.^[3] His most frequent partner was Ashok Ruia.^[2]

"Ollie", as he was popularly known was a fine technician and also one of the fastest players in the world. For a long time he held the record for the highest number of masterpoints in India.^[1]

Personal anecdotes

Besides playing bridge, Campos also used to direct the game where he is fondly remembered for his ability to do matchpoint scores in "double-fast time." One of the funny memories of him is his tendency to relapse into, "Sorry, my fault – I am a palooka, you are expert," whenever he got riled by his partner.

On the way to a bridge event that he was attending, Ollie's flight got hijacked (c. 1984). Ultimately the hijackers were attacked by commandos, but at age 70+, Ollie was reportedly one of the first passengers to have escaped down the emergency chute.

He was a keen amateur philatelist whose specialization was "Early Indian First Day Cancellations."