National Championships and coverage of Men’s and Women’s

1996 National Championsips, Rochester, NY, March 20 - 24, 1996
1996 National Championsips, Rochester, NY, March 20 - 24, 1996
Men’s Champions 1996: Scott Mansager (left) and Flip Goodspeed. This was to be their first of five in succession, an APTA record for a team. Rich Maier won five in a row but with two partners. Men’s Champions 1996: Scott Mansager (left) and Flip Goodspeed. This was to be their first of five in succession, an APTA record for a team. Rich Maier won five in a row but with two partners. Platform Tennis News captured the action at the Nationals Platform Tennis News captured the action at the Nationals

1996

PTN Spring 1996 covered the Men’s and Women’s Nationals:

The old Post Office adage of “neither rain nor sleet, etc.” came into full force at the 1996 men’s and women’s APTA National Championships, and it turned out to be true. Nothing prevented the hardy paddlers from completing their appointed rounds and matches in Rochester. With over 150 sponsors, Fritz Odenbach and his team were able to run a Nationals the way he thought it should be run: with the emphasis not just on the play, but on the playing afterwards. The lunches, the parties, the President ‘s Cup events, even the informal get-togethers at the Shadow Lake bar, all added up to an unforgettable event.

Michigan’s Scott Mansager combined with fellow Wolverine Flip Goodspeed to snatch the men’s title with a steamroll run to the championship that included not a single lost set all weekend. Mansager’s firepower from the forehand and Goodspeed’s nearly errorless overall performance helped them lose a mere 24 games over six matches in 12 sets. Their opponents in the final were more of a surprise, as lower-seeded George Zink from the Philadelphia area and Bill Fiedler from Chicago, combined for only the second time in a major event all year. Their exceptional athleticism and deft racket skills propelled them to the final, also without the loss of a set. But they were no match for the Michigan machine, despite a host of long points and incredible “gets” that had the crowd gasping with astonishment—and participating in the first recorded “wave” in platform history!

On the women’s side, form held true as Robin Fulton and Diane Tucker raced out early and held on late to knock off Patti Hogan and Cindy Prendergast in a tightly contested women’s final. Fulton and Tucker refused to give Prendergast a chance to unleash her lethal forehand, and teased her just enough with side angle shots on the screen to keep her from getting into the offensive flow.

Source: Platform Tennis News, Spring 1996