John Yocum Randolph Crawford (August 4, 1915 – February 14, 1976) was an American bridge and backgammon player.
In bridge, he was a member of United States teams that won the first three Bermuda Bowls, or world teams championships, in 1950, 1951 and 1953; a wholly new team represented the US in 1954. In backgammon, Crawford is known as the inventor of the "Crawford rule", a regulation that restricts use of the doubling cube in match play.
Crawford was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and died in Manhattan at age 60. He was married to Carol Crawford.
Canasta (New York: JCS Associates, 1950; London: Faber, 1951)Samba, three-deck canasta (Doubleday, 1951)How to be a consistent winner in the most popular card games (Doubleday, 1953); revised 1961Contract bridge (Grosset & Dunlap, 1953), Crawford assisted by Fred L. KarpinCalypso: how to play and win the fascinating new card game (Doubleday, 1955)The backgammon book (Viking Press, 1970), Oswald Jacoby and CrawfordThe latter was soon translated.
Das Backgammonbuch, German transl. by Jens Schmidt-Prange and Suzanne Gangloff (Munich: Keyser, 1974)Le livre du backgammon, French transl. by René Orléan, 1975ACBL Hall of Fame, 1995Fishbein Trophy 1952, 1957Herman Trophy 1953Bermuda Bowl (3) 1950, 1951, 1953North American Bridge Championships (37)Vanderbilt (9) 1941, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960Spingold (5) 1943, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1957Chicago (now Reisinger) (10) 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1961Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1956, 1961Master Mixed Teams (4) 1942, 1945, 1948, 1957Life Master Pairs (1) 1943Men's Pairs (1) 1939Rockwell Mixed Pairs (3) 1948, 1949, 1959Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1945Master Individual (1) 1956Bermuda Bowl (1) 1958North American Bridge Championships (27)Vanderbilt (1) 1952Spingold (4) 1939, 1947, 1955, 1961Chicago (now Reisinger) (2) 1948, 1950Men's Board-a-Match Teams (4) 1946, 1948, 1959, 1973Master Mixed Teams (6) 1944, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1973, 1975Life Master Pairs (5) 1938, 1941, 1947, 1952, 1956Men's Pairs (1) 1953Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 1947Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1942Master Individual (2) 1951, 1958