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Chartchai Teekaveerakit
Courtesy of Tim Boggan In an April, 1988 article for Table Tennis Topics, Anne Scholl Boyer tells us that Chartchai Teekaveerakit (reportedly pronounced “Tee-ka-wee-la-git), “the youngest of eight children, weighed just three pounds at birth, and spent his first days of life in an incubator.” He’d soon be out of that of course…and later out of…
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John Tannehill
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Dick Evans, co-manager of the Columbus, Ohio Club during the 1960’s, tells us how, even before John Tannehill was a teenager, his father, Chet, publisher/editor of a newspaper for the Gallipolis/Pomeroy communities along the Ohio River, had started bringing him to Columbus to play. After a time, however, since home was…
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Todd Sweeris
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Todd Sweeris: you couldn’t help but notice this 10-year-old in action at the 1983 Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) tournament in Toronto—and his proud parents as well. That Dell and Connie were well-known for having won many major Singles and Doubles Championships might have been deduced, or at least suspected, from the…
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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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Connie Sweeris
Courtesy of Tim Boggan It’s the summer of 1956, Grand Rapids is having a Summer Open, and who makes her first appearance in Topics, losing a well-played –18, -16, -20 match to Doris Chmielewski, but Grand Rapids Club President Bob Stace’s daughter, already a little local star, Connie Stace. That fall, Connie, only 9, on…
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Cy Sussman
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Samuel “Sy” (later “Cy”) Sussman, born Oct. 13, 1922, started playing table tennis in 1935 at the 92nd St. YMHA in New York City, as Sol Schiff and others had before him, under the tutelage of George Schein. By 1936 he was good enough to travel down to Philadelphia and win…
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Wendy Hicks Stockwell
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Wendy, darling–we wanted you to accept your Hall of Fame Award in person. But it’s as if you disappeared with Hook and the Crocodile into Never-Never Land! Still, we remember that Gene Lee never coached a prettier or more popular Santa Barbaran. You were smart, too, had a head for the…
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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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Pauline Robinson Somael
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Coincidentally, while the U.S. Team went to England for the 1948 World’s, Pauline Robinson made her first tournament appearance in Topics—at the Feb. Pennsylvania Open. She’d emigrated to the U.S. from England, for her family had “lived in Wembley until the early ‘40’s. Grandfather was Manager and Secretary of Wrexham Football…
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Johnny Somael
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Johnny Somael first appears in Topics as an entrant in the 1941 Eastern’s, played Feb. 1-2 at Heurich’s Gym, 26th and D Streets, in Washington, D.C. His contemporary, Freddie Borges, tells me he “discovered” Johnny playing table tennis in a Brooklyn playground and (“Hey, kid, you oughta be playing in tournaments”)…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States