James K. Cogswell elected FMTC President (1939-1940)

Jimmy Cogswell (1893-1959) was a founder of the game of platform tennis along with Fess Blanchard.

Cogswell grew up in Portsmouth, ME and Blanchard in Boston, MA and both had different educational backgrounds and interests, but through an extraordinary lucky set of events they ended up as neighbors in Scarsdale, worked in the same business area, and had similar interests in finding something to do in the winter months.

The first court was built on the Cogswell property on Old Army Road and became a gathering point for a bunch of friends that called themselves the Old Army Athletes.

The story of how the game grew from this court, rescued FMTC from bankruptcy and now is played by over 40,000 enthusiasts throughout the county is rich with the seminal contributions of many FMTC members over many decades.