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Robert S. “Buck” Halperin Memorial Trophy


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The Robert S. "Buck" Halperin Memorial Trophy

Awarded to the crew of the yacht leading after three races in the World Championship

The Robert S. “Buck” Halperin Memorial Trophy is awarded to the crew of the yacht with the best score after the first three completed races of the World Championship. Yet again, a Star class donor chose to elevate the status of the crew with another Trophy recognizing and highlighting the crew’s vital contribution without which there are no winning skippers. Buck was a sailor in the truest form, both as a Naval Officer and a Star crew. Buck, himself always a crew, was lured to the Star from professional sports, then the Navy, and wanted to highlight his “crew union” brethren.

Born and schooled in Chicago, Buck came from football roots, first playing at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne and then for the NFL team the Brooklyn Dodgers. Joining the US Navy at the onset of World War II, Buck rose to Lieutenant Commander in the Scouts & Raiders, predecessor to the Navy Seals. The Chicago Tribune notes he was "one of the first Americans to go ashore in France, perhaps, the first, on D-Day. "For his exceptionally meritorious performance of duty, and his cool judgment and unusual ability", he was awarded a Bronze Star. Later, he was awarded his first Gold Medal for service in Africa and Sicily. In business, after the war years, Buck was founder and partner in a small foul weather gear start-up distributor, Land’s End. Buck was enshrined in the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

Navy experience instilled the perfect crew attitude, and Buck was as successful in the Star boat as he was in the Navy and in business. At the 1960 Olympics in Naples, Italy, Buck won the Bronze Medal with skipper Bill Parks, and followed that with a Gold Medal, sailing with Richard Sterns in the 1963 Pan Am Games. Awarded from one crew to another, this trophy has a special meaning for those who take it home.

YEAR BOAT SKIPPER CREW FLEET ENTRIES LOCATION RESULTS
2025 #8602 Mateusz Kusznierewicz Bruno Prada ISOL 101 Split, Croatia Results
2024 #8538 Will Stout Danny Cayard SDB 64 San Diego, CA, USA Results
2023 #8583 Diego Negri Alessandro Sodano VE 96 Scarlino, Italy Results
2022 #8525 Diego Negri Sergio Lambertenghi VE 84 Marblehead, MA, USA Results
2021 #8567 Diego Negri Frithjof Kleen VE 82 Kiel, Germany Results
2020 Not Held
2019 #8509 Augie Diaz Henry Boening BisB 63 Porto Cervo, Italy Results
2018 #8210 Jorge Zarif Guilherme de Almeida Gua 60 Oxford, MD, USA Results
2017 #8317 Eivind Melleby Josh Revkin ISOL 70 Troense, Denmark Results
2016 #8467 Augie Diaz Bruno Prada BisB 72 Miami, FL, USA Results
2015 #8497 Diego Negri Sergio Lambertenghi VE 39 Buenos Aires, Argentina Results
2014 #8317 Eivind Melleby Bruno Prada Nor 87 Lake Garda, Italy Results
2013 #8203 Brian Ledbetter Gregg Morton PS 66 San Diego Bay, CA, USA Results
2012 #8471 Iain Percy Andrew Simpson SO 72 Hyeres, France Results
2011 #8367 Mark Mendelblatt Brian Fatih TaB 41 Perth, Australia Results
2010 #8371 Iain Percy Andrew Simpson SO 73 Rio de Janiero, Brazil Results
2009 #8267 Mark Mendelblatt Mark Strube TaB 86 Varberg, Sweden Results
2008 #8349 Iain Murray Andrew Palfrey LMac 104 Miami, FL, USA Results
2007 #8107 Xavier Rohart Pascal Rambeau NI 62 Cascais, Portugal Results
2006 #8156 Andy Horton Brad Nichol NB 66 San Francisco, CA, USA Results
2005 #8107 Xavier Rohart Pascal Rambeau NI 52 Buenos Aires, Argentina Results
2004 #8028 Mark Neeleman Peter van Niekerk Med 102 Gaeta, Italy Results
2003 #8040 Francesco Bruni Guido Vigna Pal 83 Cadiz, Spain Results
2002 #8109 Torben Grael Marcelo Ferreira Gua 103 Los Angeles Harbor, CA, USA Results
2001 #8065 Gavin Brady George Iversen NZL 105 Medemblik, Netherlands Results
2000 #7939 Gavin Brady Jamie Gale NZL 112 Annapolis, MD, USA Results
1999 #7876 Ross MacDonald Kai Bjorn EB 129 Punta Ala, Italy Results
1998 #7828 Colin Beashel David Giles SY 95 Portoroz, Slovenia Results
1997 #7834 Peter Bromby Michael Marcel N 71 Marblehead, MA, USA Results
1996 #7826 Torben Grael Marcelo Ferreira Gua 61 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Results
1995 #7835 Ross MacDonald Eric Jespersen EB 76 Loredo, Spain Results
1994 #7737 Ross MacDonald Eric Jespersen EB 97 San Diego, CA, USA Results
1993 #7713 Joe Londrigan Phil Trinter SDB 90 Kiel, Germany Results
1992 #7640 John Kostecki George Iverson WSFB 53 San Francisco, CA, USA Results
1991 #7488 Roberto Benamati Mario Salani Gar 119 Cannes, France Results
1990 #7405 Carl Buchan Hugo Schreiner PS 95 Cleveland, OH, USA Results
1989 #7288 Mark Reynolds Hal Haenel SDB 105 Porto Cervo, Italy Results
1988 #7225 Paul Cayard Steve Erickson SDB 70 Buenos aires, Argentina Results
1987 #7225 Paul Cayard Steve Erickson WSFB 79 Chicago, IL, USA Results