Men’s Doubles returned to FMTC and, with 127 teams entered, it was like old times.

Half the defending championship team of Kingsbury-Mangan belonged to Fox Meadow, and half the team that won, John Beck and Herb Fitz Gibbon, grew up there. Big John Beck played for the Bedford Golf Club, but around Fox Meadow, he was still Madge and Ted Beck’s boy, a local kid who made good. The five-set final lasted more than two and a half hours before Beck and Fitz Gibbon overwhelmed Keith Jennings and Chauncey Steele. It was not a complete Fox Meadow victory, but it felt terrific regardless.

In the Senior events, Charles Baird and Ed Swanberg completed their hat-trick in the 50+ and Baird teamed with Roger Lankenau to win the 45+.

In the 60+, Walter Frese and Ken LaVine won their second title.

See APTA Newsletters listed as sources for drawsheets

Source: Off The Wire, Vol. 5. No. 3, & Mid-summer; Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983

Shirley Babington and Marti Cavanaugh. The sisters won the 1974 Women’s and were finalists in 1973, 1975 and 1977

Platform tennis came of age while Brown was President, and he had a major influence on the APTA’s policies and plans as both an Officer and Director.

During his term, the APTA published its first official “Rules of Platform Tennis” booklet, under the lead of Bill Ballard.

He hired the association’s first full-time Executive Director, got the APTA on sound financial footing, and instituted detailed record-keeping of National Championship results.

He also engineered the transition during 1973-1974 from orange to yellow ball, which was used for the first time in the Nationals in 1975, and authored the booklets “The Etiquette of Platform Tennis” and “How to Conduct a Tournament Draw.”

APTA President Mike North noted, when thanking Brown for his service to the organization at the end of his tenure as President, “Brown has just begun his contribution to platform tennis.”

That was prophetic as Bob became very active in chairing, as well as competing, in Senior Tournaments, and as chairman of the Hall of Fame.

He also served again on the APTA Board in the 1990s as Region I president and as Rules and Equipment chairman, resulting in a total of 22 years of service on the APTA Board, a record that is not likely to be broken.

Brown was a major force behind the Board approval, in 1998, of the no-let rule on service.

Source: Paddle Talk, No. 2, November 1975

The committee, headed by Fox Meadow members Paul Sullivan and Jim Carlisle, provided legal counsel. The by-laws were approved in 1973.

The 1971 Nationals included the inaugural Women’s 50+.

The men had a 128 team draw, and the final was a repeat of the previous years. This win made it a hat-trick for Gray and Sammis, the second hat-trick in the game’s history (Hebard and Carver had won in 1961-1963).

The new and up and coming team of Gloria Dillenbeck and B.J. DeBree won their first title, defeating the winners of the last four events, Charlotte Lee and Peggy Stanton.

Tad Bowen and Sidney Sweet, Jr. repeated as finalists in the Men’s 50+, losing to Robert Baldwin and George Schmid. William Miller and Gregory Prince won the Men’s 60+, while Charlotte Lee and partner Clair Hesseltine won the inaugural Women’s 50+.

In the Junior’s, Charles (Chip) Baird Jr. won his third straight and future Hall of Fame member, Rich Maier, was a finalist.

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter, Vol. 2, No.  2 & 3

Elfie Carroll, a New York State tennis champion in singles and doubles, won three National Women’s (1950, 1955 and 1958) and four straight Mixed (1949-1952) with her husband, a record that stood until 1982 when it was tied by Hilary Hilton Marold and Doug Russell. Her Women’s wins in 1955 and 1958 were all the more remarkable since she and her husband moved to eastern Long Island in 1952 where she had few opportunities to play. (Seminole Club, Forest Hills, NY).

Alexander (Zan) H. Carver, Jr. played on the amateur tennis circuit and was ranked as high as number eleven in 1944. He won the Men’s Nationals three straight times (1961-1963), the Mixed nationals in 1964 and the Men’s 45+ in 1963 and the Men’s 50+ in 1970. He was skilled at the half-volley and brought the center court theory of tennis doubles to the game. (Fox Meadow Tennis Club).

Mary A. (Maizie) Moore was part of the Childress dynasty at Fox Meadow Tennis Club and was a fine tennis player, competing successfully at state and national levels. She won six Women’s Nationals – five of them with sister Madge Beck – once the Women’s event was reinstituted in 1949 after a six-year hiatus. She also won the Mixed Nationals in 1946. (Fox Meadow Tennis Club).

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter – Annual Meeting, November 1970

The 1970’s Nationals were the largest draws in history, with 128 men’s teams and 72 in the women’s.

Gordon Gray and Jesse Sammis III won their second consecutive title over the rising team of Bob Kingsbury and John Mangan.

Charlotte Lee and Peggy Stanton won their fourth straight title.

John Mangan sweetened his loss in the Men’s by partnering with Susie Harris to beat the previous year’s champions, Charlotte Lee and Bradley Drowne.

Dick Hebard and Zan Carver defeated the previous year’s champions, Tad Bowen and Sidney Sweet, Jr. in the 50+ (Hebard had won the event in 1965 with Sweet). John Cookman and Mansfield Sprague won the Men’s 60+ (also called the Veteran’s).

In September 1970, the second APTA Paddle Newsletter printed the draw sheets and results – see link above.

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter, September 1970