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Jessie Jay Purves
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Until 1933, only men were permitted to play in the National Championships of both the Parker Brothers’ American Ping-Pong Association (APPA) and its rival, the Sept., 1931-formed NYTTA. However, as early as 1930, Cecile Stewart, wife of the USTTA’s first President, Bill Stewart, won the Chicago District Open Women’s Championship; and…
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Sally Green Prouty
Courtesy of Tim Boggan The 1938 World Championships would be played in London, at Wembley, and, since all four members of last year’s winning U.S. Corbillon Cup Women’s Team–Ruth Aarons, Dolores Kuenz, Jay Purves, and Emily Fuller–were not interested in representing the U.S. this year, especially since they’d have to pay all, or at least…
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Lou Pagliaro
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Arresting, Louie and his table tennis play doubtless became, but his development as a young player of note was anything but arrested. By 1932 he’d won the New York City Boys’ Club and Inter-Settlement Championships for his age-group. In 1933, from a field of youthful players representing various schools, YMCAs, scout…
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Mark Schussheim Matthews
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Let’s credit not only Parker Brothers but New York City’s Tompkins Square (Ave. A and Tenth St. ) Boys’ Club–led by its star player and all-around athlete (swimming, basketball, the shot-put, volley ball, handball, tennis), Marcus “Mark” Schussheim–for helping to bring Ping-Pong here in the U.S. back into popularity from its…
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Dolores Probert Kuenz
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Dolores (originally Delores?) Probert’s first National’s was the Parker Brothers-sponsored American Ping-Pong Association’s last one–at the Hotel Carter in Cleveland, Apr. 6-8, 1934. She lost in the 2nd round, badly, to Chicago veteran Helen Ovenden, and was ranked APPA #12 for the ’33-34 season. At the Apr. 5-7, 1935 unifying USTTA…
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General Sportcraft Co., LTD
Courtesy of Tim Boggan The General Sportcraft Company Ltd. was founded in 1926 by Walter Holdstein. Its first ad to appear in Topics was for the Feb., 1934 issue and featured the imported French Reina ball, “the official ball of the New York Table Tennis Association” that would be used in their 1934 National’s. With…
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Emily Fuller
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Emily Fuller first surfaced as a player with high hopes when she beat Chicago star Helen Ovenden in straight games in the Rainbow Room of the Hotel Carter in the quarter’s of the 1934 Cleveland APPA National’s. She’d had no chance in the semi’s against the emerging superstar Ruth Aarons, but–give…
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Detroiter
Courtesy of Tim Boggan From the very first Oct., 1933 issue, the Detroit Wood Products Division of the Monnier Lumber Co., maker of the “Detroiter” (“Table Tennis Tables Unsurpassed”) was a Table Tennis Topics advertiser. Although the “Detroiter” was later billed as “The Finest Name in Table Tennis Tables Since 1928,” it wasn’t until 1935…
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Coleman Clark
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Who better to tell us about Parker Brothers’ 1932 American Ping-Pong Association Champion Coleman Clark than the expatriate Japanese penhold defensive star Yoshio Fushimi, APPA #8 for 1932, whose showmanship Clark so appreciated. In his 1933 book Modern Ping-Pong Clark pictures Fushimi “rushing towards the table like a mad bull to…
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Elmer F. Cinnater
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Ping-pong play “with a twenty-five cent set”: kitchen table, makeshift net, sandpaper rackets, and balls “so light they almost floated in the air.” Who would think because Elmer Cinnater (“sin-AH-ter”) enjoyed, really enjoyed, such a casual diversion he’d be a VIP visiting in the not too distant future some of Europe’s…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States