US Table Tennis Hall of Fame

Recognizing athletes and contributors in the sport of Table Tennis in the United States

Sharon Frant Brooks

1973 – Began as a volunteer for regional and national wheelchair games in all sport venues of the NWAA
1975 – Founding member of a multi-sport program for the disable, the Delaware Valley Wheelchair Athletic Association, sports team – the Delaware Valley Spokesman, which did include a table tennis team.I was responsible to “coach” that team.
1979 – Assisted in the organization of the NJ Wheelchair Athletic Association, including its nationally recognized wheelchair table tennis program supporting Paralympic national and international players and coaches
1982 – Selected by the then National Wheelchair Athletic Association to be the team leader of the USA Table Tennis Team at the Pan American Wheelchair Games
1982 – Team leader, USA Wheelchair Table Tennis team, World Championships, Stoke Mandeville, England
1985 – 2002 – Appointed by the USTTA to present the concerns of the players with disabilities and was appointed Chairperson of the Disabled Players committee
1985 – Selected by the American Wheelchair Table Tennis Association (AWTTA) to be the designated USA classifier in the new functional classification system
1987 – 1988 – Coordinated the participation of the USA Table Tennis team of 24 wheelchair players at the World Wheelchair Table Tennis Championships in Brisbane, Australia.
1988 – Ran the first international wheelchair table tennis tournament held in the USA at Montclair State College in New Jersey.
1990 – Appointed a USA Team Leader for the US Disabled Sports Team, the first fully integrated disability sports team from the USA, with one of sports under her supervision being the Table Tennis team.
1990 – Assen Holland first training for Functional Classification for table tennis was held, and Sharon attended under the sponsorship of the American Wheelchair Table Tennis Association (AWTTA).
1992 – Ran the first integrated team trials for all disabilities in advance of the Barcelona Paralympics. in Philadelphia, during which the USA team was selected to the Barcelona Paralympics. Also, the USA held its first International Classification training seminar at this event bringing in the then chair of functional classification from Holland to do so.
1992 – The International Table Tennis Committee for the Disabled (later to become the ITTF Para Table Tennis Committee), identified as one of 10 internationally qualified classifiers, with only 4 not being from Europe, only one being from the Americas. In that capacity, she was selected to be one of 6 international classifiers for table tennis at the 1992 European Championships for the Disabled in Salao, Spain and later the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics.
1992 – As Chair of Disabled Players Committee of USATT, responsible for the US Open, which had historically run an Open Wheelchair event for many years, expanded to conduct a full Paralympic style classed, open, and team events tournament at its annual event.
International Classifier at the 1994 Pan American Table Tennis Tournament in Buenos Aires, the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, at the 1999 Para Pan Am games in Mexico City, again in 2003 at the Para Pan Am games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, the 2007 Para Pan Am Games in Buenos Aires, and the 2011 Para Pan Am games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the 2015 Toronto Para Pan Am Games.
Sharon served on the Wheelchair Sports USA Junior National Committee and was the Table Tennis representative on that committee from its inception until 2002.
She was inducted into the Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame largely for her pioneering efforts that lead to the creation of the Junior Division of that body in 1991.