James P. Gordon – Men’s Champion and almost Nobel Laureate

James Power Gordon was born in Brooklyn, NY, on March 20, 1928, and was raised in Forest Hills and Scarsdale, NY

He attended Scarsdale High School and Phillips Exeter Academy (Class of 1945). In 1949 he received a bachelor’s degree from MIT and joined the physics Department of Columbia University as a graduate student. He received his Masters and PhD degrees in physics in 1951 and 1955, respectively.

In the framework of his doctoral research he designed, built and demonstrated the successful operation of the first maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) together with H. Zeiger and with his doctoral advisor Prof. Charles H. Townes. There was considerable skepticism about whether the device would work and some of his colleagues said maser really stood for money acquisition scheme for expensive research. Gordon however was a believer and had a bet of a bottle of bourbon that it would work. He won.

The invention of the maser won the Nobel Prize in Physics, which C.H. Townes shared in 1964 with the Russian scientists N. Bassov and A. Prokhorov. Dr. Townes, who thought Gordon should also have been included in the honor, gave some of his Nobel Prize money to Gordon who used it to buy a Buick station wagon.

Starting in 1955 and until his retirement in 1996, James P. Gordon worked as a scientist at AT&T Bell-Laboratories, where in the period between 1958 and 1980 he headed the Quantum Electronics Research Department, located initially in Murray Hill and Holmdel Township, both in the state of New Jersey.

In addition to his Men’s National Championship in 1959 he won the Mixed Nationals in 1961 and 1962. Gordon was invariably seen with the raccoon coat that was de rigueur among the top paddle players at the time.

Source: James P Gordon

Historical Factoid: Gordon was a year ahead of Hall of Famer Bob Brown at Scarsdale High School. They were in the same Boy Scout troop and were both Eagle Scouts. They also both played trumpet in the high school band but Bob admits Gordon was the better player.

PTMHOFF makes progress towards “virtual museum”

The PTMHOFF established revised goals in 2011 after an arrangement for housing a physical museum fell through. A significant part of 2012 was spent in pursuing Phase 1 of the new plan:

Phase I: Create a “virtual” museum and Hall of Fame with the first step being a dramatic upgrade to original web site. The revised site would have three features – an illustrated history of the game, a completely new look and feel for the Hall of Fame with extensive biographies, and a “Search and Explore” section which would house all of the memorabilia collected in digital formats and allow visitors to browse the artifacts by various search keys (by name, for instance).

This phase which is the foundation and heart of the revised mission, was now about 75% complete with the collection and digitization of artifacts, the development of the illustrated time-line history and the revised and expanded Hall of Fame sections essentially complete.

The collection and digitization of historical artifacts was a much bigger undertaking than originally anticipated and our collection now included almost all APTA newsletters (1969-2012), APTA historical documents (annual meeting minutes, correspondence, etc.) many magazine and newspaper articles, photographs, film footage going back to 1962, and much more. This material has been extensively used to create the illustrated time-line history and upgrade the biographies of Hall of Fame members.

The big remaining step was the complete the Search and Explore segment.

All of this had taken considerable effort and resources and would not have been possible without the support of the “paddle community”

Options for Museum and Hall of Fame explored

The initial thrust of the PTMHOFF was to create a “bricks and mortar” facility, but as they pursued this goal they realized that the history of the game could also be told by a “virtual museum”. Many traditional museums were moving in this direction as they saw opportunities to deliver content in a more visually exciting and interactive way with the added benefit of attracting “visitors” without the need for them to be physically at the museum.

The revised approach was developed during 2011 and comprised three phases:

Phase I: Create a “virtual” museum and Hall of Fame with the first step being a dramatic upgrade to original web site. The revised site would have three features – an illustrated history of the game, a completely new look and feel for the Hall of Fame with extensive biographies, and a “Search and Explore” section which would house all of the memorabilia collected in digital formats and allow visitors to browse the artifacts by various search keys (by name, for instance).

Phase II: Create a physical presence but with a significantly reduced foot-print by combining the material from Phase I with the more traditional elements of a museum – physical displays. The work in this phase will also include seeing how we can repurpose the material developed for a “travelling/pop-up museum and Hall of Fame” that could be used at major National Championships.

Phase III: Build an app which would be the digital equivalent of our coffee table book Passing Shots: A pictorial History of Platform Tennis, containing all the elements of the “virtual” museum

APTA Board Meeting recap

The Annual Meeting of the APTA was held in the evening of April 30, 2004. On the afternoon of April 30, the APTA Board of Directors and invited guests met to discuss marketing plans and strategies to promote paddle. On May 1, 2004 the APTA Board of Directors met for the annual business meeting.

At the annual meeting, new APTA directors Bob Callaway, Sally Cottingham, David Lowe, Marina Ohlmuller and Todd Ward were elected and returning director Martin Sturgess was reelected. Retiring directors Mark Holtschneider, John Horine, Tim Mangan and Jo Rogers were also recognized.

This was a very emotional meeting. In addition to the regular APTA business that was conducted, the meeting marked the end of John Horine’s 7-year tenure as President. John closed the meeting with a heartfelt review of his activities and accomplishments and thanked those who helped make them happen including Charlie Stevens, Carolyn Tierney, Mark Holtschneider, Bill Cunningham, David Kjeldsen, Wayne Dollard, Taylor Bowen, Pete Matthews, Gary Horvath, Mark Fischl, Marjorie Hodson, Bob Brown, Charles Vasoll, Hope Kerr, and his wife Paige. New APTA President Mark Fischl presented John with a plaque in recognition of his years of service to paddle and the APTA.

[enlarge images to read full recap]

Dick Squires releases promotional video on how to play the game

Though Richard C. (Dick) Squires was a fine player, winning the Men’s title in 1966 and later adding two Men’s 45+ titles, he made his mark on the game as an outstanding promoter who helped take it on a growth spurt never seen before or since.

When Life Magazine put paddle on the cover of a 1967 magazine, you could sense that something was about to happen in terms of the game becoming the “in thing.” What the sport needed, however, was a flamboyant advocate and showman who could lead the growth and become a catalyst for opening new frontiers. Squires did exactly that and broke a few eggs along the way.

“Mr. Paddle” wrote about the game, published books on the game, produced instruction films about the game, built courts, endorsed attire, conducted clinics and found sponsors for an exciting new tournament that CBS Sports televised for its Sports Spectacular show. He also opened the first commercial platform tennis facility on a roof-top in New York City. Squires was Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003 shortly before he died.

Senior player profile – Helen Garrett

Paddle is her balance. Just back from a weekend on Long Beach Island, and having spent two weeks skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, it was pure luck to find Helen Garrett with some time to talk. No moss grows on Garrett, the perennial senior tournament winner, with 16 APTA Senior Championships and eight “silvers,” as she puts it. She plays both women’s and mixed tournaments, enjoying the differences of each game. And she very much enjoyed the team concept of the President’s Cup. Garrett played in the very first one in 1986, and was on the Region III team for several years.

Garrett and long-time partner Sandy Simmers won the Women’s 70+ Nationals in Scarsdale, New York, this past December. Both players are from the Washington, DC area, and Garrett really enjoys the time they spend together, whether in the car traveling to tournaments or on the court. “Neither of us has a big forehand or big backhand, but we just bore people to death with our game. Of course we have some skills, mostly strategy, and we can place soft screen shots.”

When playing mixed, Garrett seems to land some of the bigger fish in paddle, notably Bob Brown, Bill Childs, and Scott Estes, Sr. “I’ve had great partners. And I’ve learned so much strategy from all of them. I think in order to get better at any game, you have to be a student” One of her few disappointments is that “I didn’t get to play in the recent Mixed 60+ or Women’s 60+ Nationals,” Garrett laments. This was her first time missing each tournament in ten years, but she couldn’t fit traveling to Florida or Chicago into her demanding schedule. [enlarge image to read more]