Profile of the game rises

On January 25th, 1936 George Trevor (1892-1951), remembered as one of the best sports writers in the business, began an article on Platform Tennis as follows:

Paddle Tennis Gains Place as Winter Sport

Look! That’s the answer to the riddle that has been puzzling the winter-bound business athlete for generations. It solves the problem of how to get outdoor exercise in a competitive game when snow covers the ground and the thermometer is down around the freezing mark. Incidentally, this new game will mean financial salvation for many a country club that needs an appealing winter pastime to bring in revenue during the dead months.

Trevor gave his impressions of the exhibition match he had watched (Charley O’Hearn and Jim Hynson vs. Kip Couch and Ed Grafmueller):

The writer was impressed by the rapid-fire tempo of the game and the skill of the players. Charley O’Hearn’s cannon ball service and overhead kills at the net rattled the backstops with a stark intensity worthy of a Red McLoughlin. Kip Couch’s effortless strokes, as fluent as Tilden’s, caught my eye. Couch is the stylist of the paddle tennis realm. O’Hearn’s thunderbolts finally prevailed after three hotly fought sets. “Whew!” gasped Charley as he warmed himself before a cozy fire in the snug little clubhouse. “This game is almost as hard on the wind as hockey. You’ve only got to try it to be converted. I wish we could get more of those shut-in squash players to taste this open-air cocktail.”

Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959; The New York Sun, January 25, 1936