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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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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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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