One of many Jack Davis paddle drawings

Jack Davis cartoons

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Born in 1924, Jack Davis is one of the best-known American illustrators of the past fifty years. During his illustrious career, he created art for magazine covers, film posters, record jackets, advertisements, and books. Perhaps he is most admired for his work in MAD Magazine.

In the platform tennis world, he is famous for his zany drawings that feature outlandish characters on the court. During the 1970’s, he created twelve widely distributed platform tennis prints. A former Scarsdale resident, Davis played platform tennis socially at the Scarsdale Golf Club. Although he claims that he didn’t base his characters on anyone specific, it is hard not to identify with each of them.

The Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame inducted Davis in 2003.

Interesting factoid: Jack Davis had Fox Meadow Tennis Club member Karen Reuter (1943-2008) do quite a bit of coloring for his cartoons before they were reproduced

Wooley and Pam Bermingham were influential in bringing platform tennis west. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, while Pam was inducted in 1997

West Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association (WPPTA)

The WPPTA was formed in 1967 by five private clubs: The Edgeworth Club, Allegheny Country Club, Fox Chapel Racquet Club, Fox Chapel Golf Club, and the Rolling Rock Club. The purpose of the organization was to promote paddle to other clubs and organizations and to sponsor the Western Penn. Open tournaments, the first of which was held in 1968. Within four years women’s., mixed, and junior tournaments had been added to the schedule.

Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 2, No. 1

Durrell’s “Official Guide to Platform Tennis” published

The book was authorized by the APTA and the dust-jacket explained the book’s goals:

“This book has been prepared to answer every conceivable question about platform tennis. It tells the story of the origin and development of the game, describes the strategy and tactics of play, how to go about constructing a platform, where to purchase paddles, balls, and net, the official rules, and how to run a tournament. It also explains the activities of the American Platform Tennis Association, and lists its past officials, as well as the records of every major tournament ever played under the auspices of the Association.”

One of the useful tips from the chapter on “How to Run a Tournament”

“The Chairman can host the semi-finals for luncheon at his home, thus allowing the finalists a chance for a shower and change of clothes. Bull shots (vodka and beef broth) are traditional on this occasion. Be sure to invite the Finals Umpire to lunch. This is a good time for him to get to know the finalists and the clubs they represent. He can be a member of a regional Tennis Umpires Association or a capable member of the club.”

Death of Fessenden S. Blanchard (1888-1963)

Blanchard, a co-founder of the game, suffered a heart attack at the Harvard-Princeton football game at Harvard stadium. A 1910 graduate of Harvard, he was a leader in textile research, a past president of the Textile Research Institute (1941-1945) and, for many years, head of his own industrial relations firm, which he founded in 1948. He served as the first President of the APTA, from 1934-1938, and was a tireless promoter of the game in the early years. He was among the first group of individuals inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. In addition to authoring two books on the game, he also wrote widely on yachting.

One of Blanchard’s reports, prepared for the Massachusetts Development and Industrial Commission and made public in 1951 after a two-month dispute involving charges it was being suppressed, told of a “widespread belief” that the executive and legislative branches of the state government were “unjustifiably biased against manufacturers and in favor of labor but not the long-run interests of labor which are bound up with the success of Massachusetts industry.”

Source: New York Times, November 11, 1963

Sports Illustrated – It’s Wintertime, So Let’s Play Tennis

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The article by Rex Lardner described the history of the game, where the game was being played, notable players and the casual sociability of the sport, including the “dress code.” The article began….

“The tennis fans of Connecticut and its neighboring states are a hardy lot—at least, a significant and growing number of them are. When winter winds begin to howl and snow blankets their courts, these intrepid racketeers neither give up their ball-banging nor take up squash; they deck themselves instead in a special kind of warm winter finery and move on to a structure of wood and wire to play a game called platform Tennis.”

James K. Cogswell Jr. (1893-1959)

Death of James K. Cogswell, Jr. (1893 – 1959)

Jimmy Cogswell was a co-founder of the game and served as President of FMTC in 1939. He was among the first group of individuals inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965.

Upon retirement, Jimmy moved back to his boyhood roots in Maine and settled in Kittery, where he proceeded to build a retirement home and accompanying barn. He used the latter to pursue his hobbies that had expanded to include building a dinghy.

He acquired a classic Down East open lobster boat and embarked on a retirement career as an avid amateur lobster fisherman.

He died suddenly one morning in 1959 while attending to his lobster pots and was buried at the First Congregational Church in Kittery Point, ME.

Blanchard’s second book on the game, Platform Paddle Tennis, which was published that year, was dedicated to his memory.

Two New Champions in Wall-to Wall Tennis

The New York Times and Reporter Dispatch cover Nationals

The Reporter-Dispatch of White Plains, New York, was one of the leaders among the local Scarsdale papers in giving interesting, illustrated accounts of platform tennis. The March 9th edition of “One of Saturday’s features,” speaking of the Men’s Nationals , commented on the play of Earle Gatchell of Fox Meadow and Ken Ward of Manursing Island Club, who admitted to a combined age of 128 years.

“They beat two younger men from Massachusetts in the first round in straight sets before bowing out. Gatchell helped construct the world’s first platform tennis court three decades ago. I might add that the older team taught the youngsters something about the strategy and tactics of the game. When Earle came to report the results, he said, ‘There has been a dreadful mistake. I know it wasn’t supposed to happen, but we won.’ Platform tennis covers a wide span of years.”

Source: Adapted from Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959

Coonskin coats are the “unofficial” uniform

Paddle’s unofficial uniform

There was no standard or official uniform for paddle players, except maybe in overcoats. Coonskin coats seemed to be the mark of the well-dressed player, except when he was actually playing.

A few of the younger players began turning up with coonskin coats, for which they paid $25 to downtown furriers. When Blanchard went to one of the furriers to get a coat for himself, he was greeted with these remarks: “I have been storing these coonskin coats for years but never had a nibble. But now I am almost sold out. Some people out in Westchester have a game that they play outdoors all winter. They’ve been coming in here and have gobbled up almost all I have”

Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959