Manursing Island Club holds Men’s tournament

The event was held on December 10,1938 and was won by Sidney Wood and Don White.The tournament used a blind draw format as as Wood had never played he drew Fox Meadow ace Donald White who coached through to the winners circle. Wood had trouble serving early on but as the tournament progressed he developed a tricky twist serve which proved formidable!

Don White served as APTA President from 1942-1944.

Sidney Wood (1912-2009) became the only uncontested winner of a Wimbledon final. Wood’s opponent in the final of the 1931 championship at the All-England Club was U.S. Davis Cup teammate Frank Shields. Shields, however, was unable to play because of an ankle injury.

Wood had already made Wimbledon history four years earlier when at 15 he became the youngest male to ever play in the tournament. Dressed in white knickers, he lost in straight sets to French great Rene Lacoste.

Wood was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1964

W. Putnam Livingston elected FMTC President (1949-1950)

Livingston (1905-1987) grew up in CT and ME and attended Williams College. He retired from Bankers Trust as a vice president after a long career where he focused on using technology to improve efficiency and customer services. He was recognized as a leader in this field. He retired to NH where he died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

National Championships

The Hebard era had begun.

Dick Hebard and Fred Walker won their first title, defeating the previous year’s winners, Kip Couch and Charlie O’Hearn.

The Women’s Championship was reinstated after a hiatus of six years and Madeline Beck resumed winning. She had won the last five events (1938-1942) with Marie Walker and now won with her sister Maizie Moore.

The Mixed was won by the husband and wife team, Ronald and Elfi Carroll, a portent of things to come.

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

Will J. Price elected APTA President (1949-1950)

Long-range plan for courts developed

In 1948, when there were seven courts, Killy Kilmarx prepared a long-range plan for moving and refurbishing these courts and adding two others.

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

John A. Stephenson elected APTA President (1948-1949)

John Stephenson, a member at the Manursing Island Club, Rye, NY, served as Vice President of the APTA from 1941 to 1946, and as its President from 1948-49. An avid player and tough competitor, he won many local tournaments, and was very active in promoting paddle at the Manursing Island Club, and organized some of the first night play under lights.

He was a leader in organizing the annual Westchester-New Jersey inter-team matches held in Englewood, NJ, and participated actively in exhibition matches to help promote the game.

National Championships

There is no record of a Mixed event being held and there was no Women’s event.

The Men’s was one of the longest finals on record – 67 games – with Kip Couch and Charlie O’Hearn finally prevailing over John Moses and Rawle Deland.

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

Charles M. O’Hearn elected FMTC President (1947-1949)

Charley O’Hearn (1901-2001) turned down an offer to be the Red Sox’s GM. Both FMTC and paddle benefitted from this decision.

Charles O’Hearn dominated the game from 1935 through to 1950 and won ten National Championships—four times in Men’s, five times in Mixed, partnering with his wife Ginnie for four of them, and the last Singles Championship. When he moved to New Haven, CT, in 1951, his involvement in the game declined, although he remained an excellent player.

His son Michael O’Hearn was also an active FMTC member and a Club and National Champion.

National Championships

As in 1946 the Women’s was again not played.

The Fox Meadow team of Moses and Grout overcame the 1942 and 1944 champions Hyde and Wiley from Hartford, CT.

The New Jersey husband and wife team Elwood and Sarah Cooke easily won the Mixed over a Fox Meadow team.

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

Historical Factoid: At the time Moses was 23 and became the youngest player in the history of the game to win a National championship; he was the recipient of the APTA Honor Award in 1976.

Innovations to Parent-Child Tournament

In 1946, Tournament Chairman Lamar Fearing introduced an innovation to the Club’s popular Parent-Child tournaments: any member who lacked a child of playing age could borrow one from another member.

At Fox Meadow, paddle meant not just championship competition but an aspect of the game fostered by the Old Army Athletes, the inclusion of young and old, good and mediocre.

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