More on the ball

APTA President Chuck Vasoll reported on progress in the Mid-Winter edition of PTN. We received several responses to our ad for a “Rubber Chemist” to aid us in our search for improvements to “The Ball." We will be following up on them with the hope that it will be fruitful in bringing us an improved product for our game. Speaking of the "ball," I recently delivered a supply to the captain of one our women's teams. As I was descending the steps at the rear of her house, I could not believe my eyes. There growing in the garden were "Platform Tennis Balls." Closer inspection, however, showed them to be yellow gourds. Unfortunately, this picture in black and white is not as striking as the color original, but you can visualize it. When I mentioned this finding and put up the picture on our warm-up hut bulletin board, I was told that it was a great idea to grow the balls, except t[...]

APTA develops a database of places where the game is played

In the Mid-Winter edition of Platform Tennis News, the APTA published a long list of the clubs, schools and municipal facilities that made up its membership. They believed the list contained only half the facilities in U.S. and Canada, and so they encouraged readers to see if their facility was listed and, if not, suggest that it join the APTA.

APTA Board seeks more “gray hairs”

The APTA Board, sensing that its composition was perhaps a little heavy on youth and losing institutional memory, re-elected Bob Brown, who had served as APTA President from 1973–1975, for a second term. Bob continued this new assignment until 1998, resulting in a total of 22 years of service on the APTA Board.

APTA Board approves new regional alignment

After a year’s study and the presentation of several different options, the APTA Board of Directors, at its October 7th meeting, agreed upon a plan presented by Walt Peckinpaugh and Rick Williams, presidents of Regions IV and VI, respectively, to realign the group’s geographic regions. The plan combined their two jurisdictions and created two revamped regions. The change became effective at the start of the APTA fiscal year, May 1, 1990. The new Region IV extended from Syracuse, New York, on the East, into telephone area codes 814 and 412 in western Pennsylvania. It included the states of Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, the eastern half of Michigan with telephone area codes 517 and 313, and the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Midwest Region, which was given the new designation number V, was anchored by Chicago and the state of Illinois, and the western half of Michigan, with[...]

Put a clock on it!

Probably the worst match Paul Molloy ever worked was at Rye, between Herb Fitz Gibbon and Hank Irvine against Gordon Gray and Doug Russell that went to 18-16 in the fifth set on a Super Bowl Sunday. After the match, Molloy met with the rules committee and got them to agree to play tiebreakers all the way.

Paul Molloy’s thoughts on players and matches

When Paddle Tennis News asked about the memorable matches he saw, this was his response. These recollections appeared in the March edition of PTN: “I wish I had some vivid recollections of the classic matches involving Hebard, Carver, Pardoe, Harrison, O'Hearn and others. They were all great. Ted Winpenny comes to mind as the cagiest player I ever saw. Very steady and sneaky good. Of the players I have umpired for over the last 16 years, there are several that stand out in my mind. Bob Kingsbury gave the most effort. I wish I had a dollar for every time he scraped himself up going for and usually getting an impossible shot. Greg Brents was the fastest I ever saw. There was no way you could send a ball past him that he couldn't get back and retrieve. Watching Hank Irvine was a joy. He has great style and no one ever covered his partner as he did. Herb Fitz Gibbon's serve retu[...]

National Championships – and what it took to run the Men’s and Women’s Nationals and Presidents Cups

PTN Spring 1989 had the coverage of the Men's and Women's Nationals. The top two seeds never saw the light of day in the Women's Nationals finals, as Bobo Mangan and Sarah Krieger rose from their third-seeded position to lay claim to the title of Women's National Champions for 1988-89. Before a sun-drenched crowd at the “Home of Platform Tennis” at Fox Meadow in Scarsdale, NY, Mangan and Krieger eked out a 7-6, 6-3 triumph over fellow up-setters Sue Aery and Mary Ginnard, who had overcome one of the strongest women’s teams in recent years, Robin Fulton and Diane Tucker, in the semis. After a year beset by change in the world of men's platform tennis, the National Championships changed all that by going according to form. In a grueling, almost three-hour final, top-seeded and six-time champions Rich Maier and Steve Baird overcame the rising brother combo of Bob and [...]

A history of Platform Tennis?

The Spring edition of Platform Tennis News carried the following article from an anonymous paddler from Troy, NY who was obviously unaware that the eminent historian and Old Army Athlete C. Alison Scully had already provided a history of the game to Fess Blanchard in 1935 for an article Blanchard had been asked to write for Esquire (See Tracing the Origins of Paddle Tennis). The History of Platform Tennis: THE EARLIEST SIGNS Carbon dating has fixed earliest known relics of platform tennis around 40,000 B.C. Signs at the tundra town of Jhurk, have unearthed early paddles, probably made of caribou or whale skin, laminated by placing under eskimos. Over what must have been a precipice have been found thousands of round, resilient projectil[...]

Leaning towards Leagues

In an effort to extend its services to more paddle players at every skill level, the APTA created a new position on its Board and appointed Mark Allen as its first-ever liaison to platform leagues. Platform Tennis News began carrying information on league activities, and started the ball rolling with a review of the exceptional growth of one of the East Coast's most successful programs, the New Jersey Men's Platform Tennis League. Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1989

APTA Annual Business and Board Meetings – Bylaws amended for voting