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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”)…
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Olga Soltesz
Courtesy of Tim Boggan (PHOTO #1) Hungarian refugees Paul and Olga Soltesz are shown here in 1957 with their Budapest-born three-year-old daughter Olga. They’ve resettled in Melbourne, FL, and at the moment are heading off to town. No, they’re not going to any local table tennis club—though Paul (PHOTO #2) had been an enthusiastic player…
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Mildred Wilkinson Shipman
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Neither the Parker Brothers’ American Ping-Pong Association (APPA) nor the break-away New York Table Tennis Association (NYTTA) held U.S. Women’s Championships before 1933. But although the Mar., ‘33 APPA Chicago National’s had a very good turnout of 40 entries in the Women’s, Mildred Wilkinson, one of the locals (from Glen Ellyn)…
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Mildred Shahian
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Mildred Shahian, whose life was devoted to table tennis–both as a World and National Champion, and as the Manager for 40 years of Chicago’s well-known Net and Paddle Club–died of cardiac arrest, April Fools Day, 1992. Her close friend of 30 years, Jim Lazarus, agonized over her, comforted her, in her…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States