The BOD Minutes reflected the vote to approve designating all present recipients of the APTA Honor Award as Charter members of the newly created APTA Hall of Fame.

It was also minuted that:

“The current APTA office does not have enough morn to display the memorabilia that has been collected over the years, and which resides in Walt’s (Peckinpaugh) garage and various other locations.

The Board passed a motion to designate Chuck (Vasoll) as the point person charged with researching and writing a proposal for a Hall of Fame that will address a site (temporary and long term locations), fundraising requirements and curator arrangements.”

The Board had a busy agenda.

Paddle manufacturers A2Z (Kjeldsen’s company had acquired the assets of Marcraft), Wilson and The Paddle Co. were producing paddles for the upcoming season and these included a few prototypes which prompted some tweaking to paddle specifications as cited in the Minutes:

“a. approved a change to paddle length, so total length does not exceed 18″
b. eliminated the handle length/play length specification
c. retained 87 as the maximum number of holes
d. retained 3/8” as the hole diameter
e. approved a change to the rim, so the rim may be flush or wrap around within limits noted in revision documentation (attached)
f. retained surface finish as “slight texturing” subject to further research (Bob and Charley will attempt to further define “slight texturing” using the sandpaper grit scale as a standard reference by 6-1-95)
g. retained surface as flat, not yellow

The Board reaffirmed its position that non sanctioned or sanctioned equipment modified by its owner cannot be used in ranking and National tournaments.”

Balls by Vittert, Marox and ARD where also a topic of discussion.

The Board started to look at a marketing plan as securing adequate tournament sponsorship was becoming an issue.

The Rules & Equipment Committee had been busy with the ARD ball, a new paddle from Marcraft, and had been updating the Rules Book, The Etiquette of Paddle and How to Conduct a Tournament Draw. Bob Brown also provided the Board with a copy of a position statement supporting the change of “playing lets on serve”

The Board reaffirmed that the President’s Cup was not intended for top ranked players and agreed to eliminate from President’s Cup competition any player who had reached the quarter finals of the Nationals in the last two years or who was one of the top eight ranked women’s teams or top sixteen ranked men’s teams

The Board Meeting had an extensive discussion on balls and developing a policy for use of balls in National Championships and Ranking Tournaments.

Hedstrom had made a proposal to the APTA regarding the growth and development of the game. The proposal generated quite a discussion as summarized in the Minutes:

“Each Director was asked to comment on the proposal. Comments were: money (Passport) destroyed the camaraderie of the game; TV coverage doesn’t work; not enthusiastic about playing indoors; against paying a few top professionals; questioned ability to obtain sponsorship; concept of proposal was good, but it lacked substance. Alternate suggestions were: pay travel expenses for President’s Cup players; pay top professionals to hold clinics around the country; sponsor Pro-Am events in several regions; Seniors tour; target a program for B level players; Juniors clinics; and, target the club player.”

The APTA BOD reinstated the Honors Award which would be awarded at National Championships.The first awards under this program took place in 1992.

A “NO FOOT-FAULT” sign had been developed for use at clubs and a proposal was made to let the receiving team call a let instead of taking the point.

There was an extended discussion on balls and ball testing and on the presentation by Rich Maier about the ARD ball at the annual meeting