U.S. Backgammon Federation President John Pirner selected Tara Mendicino and Bill Riles as the recipients of the USBGF Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2025. The formal presentations on their behalf will be made at the USBGF Awards Dinner during the Texas Backgammon Championships scheduled to convene February 5–9, 2025.
“Tara and Bill have each established a long and distinguished record of service to the USBGF, to the promotion and development of their signature American Backgammon Tour event — the Texas Backgammon Championships — and to the promotion and development of backgammon at the local club level, throughout the United States, and internationally. They are each, and both, most deserving and worthy recipients of their Awards,” he said.
Service to the USBGF
Coming from a professional background in the residential and commercial real estate industry in San Antonio, Ms. Mendicino joined the USBGF as a member of its volunteer staff in the autumn of 2011 as Director of Communication. She subsequently took on numerous other responsibilities, serving simultaneously as a Tournament Director of several of the USBGF online competitions, the USBGF webmaster and production editor of its website. In August 2013, she joined the Board of Directors as Vice-Chair of its Membership and Marketing Committee. She later served on the Board’s Governance and Nominating Committee. In 2015, she became Vice President, a position she held for several years thereafter. Throughout her tenure, Tara developed and directed the Online Tournament Circuit.
Mr. Riles was one of the USBGF’s initial Founding Sponsors — making the first of what would become several substantial financial contributions in January 2011. Educated at Rice University as a civil engineer and coming from a professional background in the offshore oil and gas industry, he joined the Board of Directors as Treasurer in the summer of 2013. Effective Oct. 16, 2013, he was appointed by the Board to succeed Perry Gartner as President and Executive Director. In the December 2015 elections, Mr. Riles was re-elected President and Executive Director, positions he held until 2017.
During his tenure as President, Mr. Riles energetically promoted numerous efforts to grow the membership. He also spearheaded what would be his most enduring legacy — the creation of the American Backgammon Hall of Fame. He was responsible for changing the method of choosing members of the Board of Directors, who are now elected by members of the Federation. In addition, he was instrumental in reviving his local Houston Backgammon Club.
After his tenure as President and Executive Director, Mr. Riles continued to serve on the Board in several capacities, including Chair of the American Backgammon Tour Integration Committee, Chair of the Hall of Fame Committee, and Treasurer. He was the driving force behind the USBGF’s acquisition of the American Backgammon Tour.
In addition to their service on the Board of Directors, both Ms. Mendicino and Mr. Riles served as volunteer staff in connection with the USBGF flagship publication PrimeTime Backgammon — Ms. Mendicino for many years in the capacity of Production Editor; Mr. Riles in the capacities of Publisher and member of the Editorial Advisory Board.
The Texas Backgammon Championships
Prior to 2013, the American Backgammon Tour had never held an event in the State of Texas. In the early months of 2012, Ms. Mendicino and Mr. Riles joined forces to do something about that. They conceived, and subsequently produced, what has become an enduring ABT event. Innovators from the outset, their concept envisioned the very first Performance Rating (“PR”) based competition ever held in an event of international significance, called The Dual-Duel. Yet another innovation involved the extensive use of technology to video-stream key matches, often with live commentary, to viewers monitoring the competition from distant locations empowered by internet access. By way of attracting families — not every member of whom would necessarily be a backgammon enthusiast — they promoted Ms. Mendicino’s hometown of San Antonio as a family-friendly tourist destination. And the entire occasion would be topped off with a Super Bowl party to be held in their suite in the Historic Menger Hotel, located immediately across the street from the Alamo Shrine in the heart of downtown.
The inception event — convened January 31–February 3, 2013 — drew seventeen of the then-current Giants of Backgammon, including the top five. Future Backgammon World Champion Akiko Yazawa won The Dual-Duel. Fittingly, Texan Malcolm Davis won the tournament championship.
Since its inception, the Texas Backgammon Championships has grown bigger and better, and it is now established as a marquee event on the American Backgammon Tour. The inaugural American Backgammon Hall of Fame inductions took place during the 2015 Texas Backgammon Championships, and for the next five consecutive years those inductions were a prominent feature of their Awards banquets.
Cutting-edge State-of-the-art International Video Streaming
Together, Ms. Mendicino and Mr. Riles have invested tens of thousands of dollars in purchasing — as well as hundreds of hours of training with — the cutting-edge technology with which they provide streaming and commentary services for major backgammon competitions worldwide. They have traveled the globe in the promotion of backgammon and as American ambassadors to the game. They have become a mononymous streaming and commentary team globally known in the backgammon community.
A partial list of the events they have streamed and are scheduled to stream includes the following:
In the United States
- Texas
- Chicago
- Las Vegas
- Atlanta
- Charlotte
Internationally
- Monte Carlo – World Championships: 2022, 2023, 2024, and several times during the 2010s
- Trier, Germany – World Backgammon Federation World Team and World Individual Championships: 2021
- Stockholm, Sweden – Swedish Open and World Backgammon Federation World Team and World Individual Championships: 2024
- Dubai – Oasis International Backgammon Cup: 2023 and 2024
“I am greatly looking forward to honoring Ms. Mendicino and Mr. Riles at the USBGF Awards Dinner to be held at the 2025 Texas Backgammon Championships — a most fitting venue and occasion upon which to present their respective USBGF Lifetime Achievement Awards,” said USBGF President and Executive Director John Pirner.
