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Marty Prager
Courtesy of Tim Boggan In 1950, Chicago teenagers Marvin Prager and Marvin Leff could be found bonding in competitive play at, say, the local Lake States Open. Fifty-five years later, having made their table tennis mark together for decades in Florida, Prager was remembered by Leff and his wife Caron in a congratulatory note read…
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P. Becker and Co.
Coutesy of Tim Boggan Originally, William V. Schnur’s Becker Company started out in the luggage manufacturing business, but the hard times of the ending 1920’s and early ’30’s increasingly turned him to table tennis. And for a time his daughter too. Gertrude (“Trudie” or “Trude”) Schnur, played in the first (1933) American Ping-Pong Association (APPA)…
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The Nippon Takkyu Company
Courtesy of Tim Boggan The Nippon Takkyu Co., Ltd., established in 1920, is honored for its famous Nittaku ball that was first selected for the World Championships in 1971 and for many World’s thereafter. The first Topics ad for a Nittaku ball appeared from N.Y.’s Jaguar Products in the July-August, 1972 issue. However, in the…
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Joe Newgarden
Courtesy of Tim Boggan At Joe Newgarden’s induction into the USTTA Hall of Fame, Billy Neely introduces us to his admired friend’s beginnings. We hear that Joe was born in Westport, New York on Independence Day, 1929, and that “he was one of eight children born to hard-working parents of English descent.” When Joe was…
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Manny Moskowitz
Courtesy of Tim Boggan During the 1929-30 season, the first New Jersey Men’s Championship was won, not by 12-year-old Manny Moskowitz, but by one, Fred C. George, over another George, George Schissel. Since, seven decades later, the Sport has such winning veteran players as George Hendry and George Brathwaite, it might not come as much…
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Jim McQueen
Courtesy of Tim Boggan I didn’t know Jim McQueen in the mid-1960’s when he had his club in the Pullen Park Armory at North Carolina State, but later I did come down from New York to play at the Lions Park Rec Center, his home base in Raleigh. By this time he’d been liberated from…
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Mary McIlwain
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Mary competed in her first National’s…well, a long time ago. And she’s always enjoyed writing about and being among the good players. She had an article on Lou Pagliaro in the Oct., 1941 Topics–and I’m sure she remembers giving exhibitions with him as well as with Jimmy McClure, Doug Cartland, and…
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Richard McAfee
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Richard McAfee’s first USTTA-sanctioned tournament was in 1963 at the Orlando, FL City Auditorium. He’d come in as the Florida Boys Club Champion and thought he was pretty damn good with “his trusty fifteen-plied-handle hard rubber racket.” But was he in for a surprise! In his first game in the Junior’s…
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Christian Lillieroos
Courtesy of Richard McAfee Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed Hall of Fame members, It is my great honor and privilege to introduce our newest Hall of Fame inductee, Christian Lillerioos, who joins us today as a Contributor. Christian’s exceptional contributions to the world of table tennis span numerous areas, including the development of collegiate programs, the…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States