Fox Meadow Hosts 25th Anniversary of Platform Tennis

Jim Carlisle reads his epic poem
Jim Carlisle reads his epic poem "Hiawatha," a tribute to co-founders Blanchard and Cogswell on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of paddle tennis. Among the appreciative audience: Maizie Moore, Dick Hebard, Elliott Wilson, Violet Wellington and Earle Gatchell
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On February 21, 1953, T. Edmund Beck, President of the Fox Meadow Tennis Club, presented silver bowls, on behalf of his club and the APTA, to Jimmy Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard, to commemorate their founding of the game 25 years ago

About a hundred “devotees of the sport,” as the Scarsdale Inquirer put it, turned up for the occasion, which was a complete surprise to Cogswell and Blanchard who thought it was just another party.

Blanchard adds this personal remembrance of the event: “James M. Carlisle, one of the games best players at the time, read his famous ‘Hiawatha’ poem and proved himself to be a worthy poet laureate successor to the Allens. It really was a proud moment for Jimmy and me.”

Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959