Robert R. Kingsbury elected APTA President (1978-1980)

Kingsbury was active in the APTA and served as President when paddle grew from a game to a sport to a business. He was instrumental in developing sponsors for the game when many top players were tennis and platform tennis professionals. He knew that prize money was essential for growth, but he also knew that the health of the game relied on keeping the average player involved and interested. This was a difficult balancing act, which he handled with perfection.

Kingsbury managed to get Coca Cola and Seagrams to make financial contributions to the game at the national ranking level. Following that, he enlisted the Hertz Corporation to underwrite events for club level players, culminating in a two-day President’s Cup that was extremely popular.

Source: Gannett Westchester Newspapers, January 1979