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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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Eddie Pinner
Courtesy of Tim Boggan USTTA Table Tennis Topics columnist Reba Kirson (later Monness) said that the “most exciting” match in the Feb., 1939 Pennsylvania Open was the final of the Boys’, won by Eddie Pinner over Roy Weissman, -18, 12, -20, 18, 19. Weissman, who, like Pinner had learned his table tennis under the tutelage…
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Danny Pecora
Courtesy of Tim Boggan Ah, (photo #1) here we are with our opening inductee—the handsome, young Pecora of 1959. And doesn’t he look like a modest fellow with a serene, mild-mannered, submissive disposition.We find Danny coming of age at the 1960 Washington, D.C. National’s (Photo #2) where he and lefty Milwaukeeian Jimmy Blommer—after upsetting two…
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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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Khoa Nguyen
Courtesy of Tim Boggan After immigrating to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1977, Khoa Nguyen, who’d been coached by his father John since taking up the game at age 9, won, at 14, his first U.S. Closed title—the 1980 U-15 Doubles with Brandon Olson. The following September, after he’d finished 1st at the AAU Under-15…
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Leah Neuberger
Courtesy of Tim Boggan When Leah Thall Neuberger died at her home in Manhattan around Christmas of 1992, it was quite a shock to many a New York player in particular. To Tony Gegelys, for example, Leah, over the years…day-in, day-out…was a familiar figure at Lawrence’s Broadway Courts…or Reisman’s…or Gusikoff’s, ever ready with her all-consuming…
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Garrett Gray Nash
Courtesy of Tim Boggan With the death of USATT Hall of Famer Garrett Nash in the summer of ‘97, who, as a heavy smoker, had been suffering from emphysema for quite some time, we lost one of the great hard-bat stars of the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Topics readers first became aware of 13-year-old Garrett and two…
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Dhiren Narotam
Courtesy of Paul Lewis It is certainly a privilege to present my long-time friend today for his induction into the Hall of Fame. Following Houshang, Jimmy Butler, and Dick Butler, Dhiren is now the 4th Iowan in the Hall of Fame that consists of 150 players and contributors. I guess that makes Iowa an above-average…
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Terese Terranova
Courtesy of Tim Boggan With the coming of 1987, avid USATT National Games and International Paralympian Wheelchair player Terese Terranova had already accumulated in competition maybe a dozen combined Gold and Silver awards, and was primed for more. This year was special—she was one of the 15 U.S. athletes attending the World Wheelchair Championships in…
US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States