Unique checkers exhibition to be held the first Saturday of April

Ben Joe, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·2 min read

Mar. 29—LOCKPORT — John Herberger will be playing 12 contenders in the game of checkers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6 at the Lockport Municipal Building. It's an ordinary enough of a challenge, except he will actually be playing all 12 at the same time.

"Twelve boards will be set up and I will play them simultaneously," Herberger said, describing himself making one move on each of the boards, then going back to the first board to make his second move having allowed his opponent time to respond.

Herberger is a master checker player who once played Tom Wissel, the national champion, to a draw when he was 20 years old. He said he started off with the game at a young age and would play anyone who came to him.

How is he so good?

Herberger credits it to "God-given talent," and noted that it came in handy in his childhood.

"God has a reason for things like that. He gave me the talent," he said. "And the thing was the more I played, the more I liked it."

For Herberger, school was a place where he was belittled as "stupid." People would talk about him and rumors would go around that he lacked intellectual faculties. But he decided one day he wouldn't stand for it. He was going to prove them wrong.

"I chose checkers not only because I liked it, but because it was a game of skill, not a dice game," Herberger said. "The persecution complex gave me the drive I had and I had to prove I was intelligent."

Herberger said he'd be able to play up to 48 people, 12 at a time, and furthermore, he'd do it for free. He did ask that if there was anyone anxious to thank him for the show, all donations were to go to Niagara Community Action Program Inc., a countywide agency that helps those in need of food and clothing.

He said that the entire event would be "fun-filled" and he was confident he'd inspire not only donations for the food pantry and clothes closet but a whole crowd of opponents.

"People are going to want to step up to the board," he said. "They'll say, 'Let me try him! Let me try him! I got his number, let me play him!' "