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39th US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Annual Awards Induction Banquet
Thanks to the generousity of Major League Table Tennis for Sponsoring the event and the Houston International Table Tennis Academy for hosting. Flint Lane of MLTT welcomed the evening. Inductions The Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Patty Martinez-Wasserman by Scott Gordan.
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Patty Martinez Wasserman
Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award Winner – Courtesy of Scott Gordon Good evening, my name is Scott Gordon. Our Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for 2024 is Patty Martinez Wasserman. In attendance here, I see a room full of champions – many of you have known Patty a lot longer than I have –…
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39th US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Annual Awards Induction Banquet
Thanks to the generousity of Major League Table Tennis the Dinner for Juniors participating in the 18th Si & Patty Wasserman Jr. and Open Championships will covered. Parents and friends may join the special evening for $25. Please visit omnipong to reserve your place on October 10th where we honor a number of special individuals.
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Si Wasserman
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Si first met his good friend and soon-to-be doubles partner Austin Finkenbinder in 1948 at the downtown Los Angeles YMCA table tennis club. (Next to Austin and Si, far right, is Ragnar “Ray” Fahlstrom, still playing in tournaments today.) It was Austin who introduced Si to the “mecca” of table tennis…
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Dell Sweeris
Courtesy of Tim Boggan At the Dec. 14-15, 1956 3-star Central Open, held in Grand Rapids, hometown boy Dell Sweeris gets a first time nod in Topics. Like Connie Stace’s father, Bob, Dell’s father, Art, is a strong Senior player at the local Club and enjoys playing in tournaments. Connie and Dell will become friends;…
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Tybie Thall Sommer
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Leah Thall’s younger, tennis-playing sister, 17-year-old Thelma “Tybie” Thall, made her first recorded t.t. tournament appearance at Cincinnati’s Feb. 8, 1942 Jewish Center Midwest Closed. She was a straight-A student and “the first girl in the history of [Columbus, Ohio’s] East High to win a varsity letter in the sport [of…
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Danny Seemiller
Courtesy of Tim Boggan March 2, 1968–let’s start there; 13-year-old Danny, having come up out of the basement where he learned to play with his older brother Bill, lost in the PA Team Championships to both Erich Haring and Mal Anderson, later more respected officials than players. But by the 1969 USOTC’s, 15-year-old unranked Danny,…
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Sol Schiff
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Solomon “Sol” Schiff, born June 28, 1917, says he “learned the game [in 1925] on a lunch table at P.S. 151 on East 91st St.” By 1928 at P.S. 30 in Yorkville, he was playing with a wooden bat on another improvised lunch table. Later he joined the 92nd St. YMHA…
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David Sakai
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Although Dave began playing at a Waterbury, CT Y with a sandpaper racket, he quickly learned the game, progressed rapidly, and at the 1964 U.S. Open, showing excellent ball control, won the U-15’s over Glenn Cowan in the semi’s and Mark Radom in the final. He also beat Dell Sweeris in…
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Marty Reisman
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Given his long and from time to time almost magically resuscitated table tennis life, and being blessed, or damned, as he is with an insatiable urge to promote himself, Reisman has to be the most hyped player in our esteemed Hall. So how separate fact from fiction, the man from the…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States
Category: Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award
Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award.