John Peyton Ware (1921-1999)

Ware was elected to the APTA Hall of Fame in 1995 and spent 40 years of his adult life nurturing and promoting the game of platform tennis and was responsible for changing the color of the original white ball to orange so that it had much greater visibility in winter.

Ware served as APTA President from 1961 to 1963 and was instrumental in bringing young people into the game when he inaugurated the first APTA Junior Boys National Championships in 1963. He also designed the crossed paddles and ball insignia that was used on stationery, trophies, ties, scarves, and everything that represented the APTA for years. The logo was modernized in the late 1970′s, but Ware’s original design remains on the crests presented to Hall of Fame recipients and past Presidents.

Ware, the son-in-law of Fess Blanchard, became the game historian and he and his wife, Molly, put together the first and only slide show presentation on the history of platform tennis which was first shown at the Princeton Club in October 1976.

Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1999