As game expands Fox Meadow players lose dominance at tournaments but the “spirit” of the game remains an essential part of the club

By the mid-1970’s, platform tennis was a national game, attracting an estimated 500,000 competitors. The game was no longer exclusively played by Eastern clubs. The tournaments were often commercially sponsored. As the game widened, Fox Meadow lost its dominance of the Nationals, but the Club’s impact in other areas remained strong.

Cecil J. (Mike) North, Jr.(APTA President 1975-1977) of Bedford Golf and Tennis Club wrote in the program for an earlier Nationals:

“As platform tennis attracts greater numbers of players, expands geographically, and becomes increasingly money-oriented, I think it is important to remember why people played it in the first place: because it is informal, because it is fun. Fox Meadow is a reminder of these qualities.”

Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983

Arapahoe Tennis Club establishes a tournament in memory of Hig Gould who brought the game to Denver, CO

George H.B. (Hig) Gould, introduced paddle to the Mile High City with the formation of the Arapahoe Tennis Club in 1964.

He was tragically killed in a car accident in April 1971.

The Arapahoe Tennis Club established an annual tournament in his honor that rapidly became well attended by nationally ranked players seeking to both ski and play paddle. The Hertz Corporation offered to put up cash prizes but the organizers declined the offer as they wanted to keep the event low-key.

Hig was an accomplished player and had competed in the 1969 National Platform Tennis Championship at Scarsdale, NY.

At the time of his death, he was president and a director of Gates LearJet Corp.

Regional Interest in the Nationals grows

In a 1972 article about the Nationals in The New York Times, Tournament Co- Chairman Dick Balzac noted that teams had participated from as far away as Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas.

5th Anniversary of Western Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association

At their annual dinner, the Western Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association (WPPTA) elected Neil Van Horn as President, replacing Eldridge (Woolly) Birmingham, who was a founding member.

Birmingham had been largely instrumental in the development of paddle tennis in the Pittsburgh area, from court building to initiating the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles Invitational Tournaments.

The WPPTA now had 10 member clubs.

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

The New York Times looks at paddle

The April APTA Paddle Newsletter included two Times’ articles on the game – one previewing the upcoming Men’s Nationals at Fox Meadow, published on February 27th, and a March 26th article by Suzanne S. Fremon entitled “It’s Dawn for Platform Tennis.”

John R. Moses ( – 1981)

Moses was one of the earliest good “young” players of the game in the early 1940s and ‘50s.

He had been the #1 ranked junior tennis player in the nation and, at nineteen, he was the youngest person ever to be a finalist in the APTA National men’s doubles.

He won the APTA Men’s doubles title at the age of 23, again the youngest ever to attain that distinction. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976.

At the time of his death after a long illness, John had retired to East Boothbay, Maine, in the same area where his family had summered for several generations.

Source: Platform Tennis News, January 1982

Emphasis starts to shifts to social roots of the game

In addition to APTA sanctioned events, local and regional tournaments, which often supported a charity, and social get-togethers at the clubs became increasingly popular.

Playing for recognition, rather than for money, was the order of the next dozen years until the Lineal Group stepped in briefly in the early 1990s to underwrite a series of events called the Lineal Group Grand Prix.

Manufacturers Hanover Rye Invitational

Herb Fitz Gibbon and Hank Irvine, seeded #2, defeated the top-seeded, 1980 National champions, Steve Baird and Rich Maier, at the Westchester Country Club in Harrison, NY.

Frigid weather caused the match to be reduced to two out of three sets by mutual agreement, and Herb and Hank prevailed with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

Women participate in men’s singles

Very few women were entering singles tournaments. In order to encourage more to play Mark Bliss, a promoter of singles from the Apple Club in New York, suggested allowing women to participate in men’s tournaments.

Following this, Robin Rich Fulton and Linda Wolf played in a couple of the men’s warm-up tournaments before the National Singles championship.

New Canaan Savings Bank sponsors women’s national ranking tournament

For the second year, the New Canaan Savings Bank was the sponsor of the women’s National-ranking New Canaan (CT) tournament on November 19-20. The event was played at the Country Club of New Canaan, New Canaan Field Club, and Waveny Park.

The top 10 winning teams divided the $2,000 in prize money.

After winning the Chicago Invitational on November 7-8, Yvonne Hackenberg and Hilary Hilton continued their unbeaten streak with a win against the unseeded pair of Meri Lobel and Allison McCance.

Source: Platform Tennis, January 1981