National Championships

PTN Spring and Fritz Odenbach in PTN Summer covered the Men’s and Women’s Nationals

Neither rain nor sleet nor 70-degree heat could keep Rochester from hosting the platform event of the year. And no weather anomalies could derail the eventual crowning of Gerri Viant and Connie Jones as national women’s champs, and Rich Maier and Steve Baird as men’s titlists.

Gordon Gray almost achieved a Triple Crown by winning the 50+ and 55+, but lost a three-setter in the 45+ finals to Dick Heverland and Dave Dickenson.

In bright sunlight and warm temperatures, patience played a major part in the Viant/Jones victory, as they refused to hurry their offensive attacks, and wore down Butterfield/Tucker with athleticism and soft overheads down the middle. The eventual winners also managed to avoid the crunching forehand of Tucker and patented Butterfield blitzes.

The men’s final had very different weather: eye-squinting sunlight, gray skies, swirling snow squalls, and bitter drops in temperature. Through it all, Bob and Jack Kleinert battled hard against the top seeded Baird/Maier duo and came within a hair of pulling off a major upset. Seeded #3 going into the tourney, the Kleinerts pushed the five-time national champs to the very brink before succumbing 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

Three-set matches ruled the day at the Mixed Nationals, contested at Fox Meadow in New York. One of the few duos to escape the strength-sapping three-setters was the eventual championship team of Bob Kleinert and Muffin Slonaker. They won a tight 7-6, 6-3 decision from Mike Gillespie/Gerri Viant in the final, after topping Keith Butterfield Jr./Diane Tucker in the semis.

Source: Platform Tennis News, Spring 1988 & Summer 1988