J. P. Allen of The New York Sun covered the meeting:
Old Mrs. Necessity, who has mothered a brood of inventions, has presented her latest offspring to the American Paddle Tennis Association. To keep the game going, despite ball shortage due to war, clubs have arranged to rent spheres to players. That decision was arrived at during the eighth annual meeting of the organization at the Yale Club…..[see article for more]
Meeting Minutes: APTA Annual Meeting Minutes 1942
Robert S Gordon (1898-1979) was long time civic leader in Scarsdale. He practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell before becoming general counsel at National Dairy Products Corp. (now Kraftco Corp.).
One of his sons, James P Gordon, (1928-2013) was credited with the development of the fore-runner to the laser and narrowly missed being awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work; he also was a multiple APTA National Champion.
The other son Dr. Robert S Gordon, Jr. coordinated AIDS research at NIH and died in 1985
The 1941 Finalists, Holbrook (Hobey) Hyde and Leland (Lee) Wiley from Hartford GC, CT, capture the Men’s over the 1940 winners from Manursing, Witherbee Black and Paul Hicks. The steady play of the winners and their lobbing skill finally offset the speed of Hicks and the reliable play of Black. Hicks won the Mixed with Madeline Price and FMTC teams again dominated the Women’s with Madge Beck and Marie Walker adding a fifth consecutive title – a record that still stands.
It was in the semifinals of that same tournament that Sidney B. Wood (former Wimbledon tennis champion) and Kenneth Ward beat the lobbing game of Sutter and Maguire, the defending champions, by Sid’s hard-driving and Ward’s deceptive chops. This was a match in which the offense of the winning team overcame the largely defensive play of the losers. Perhaps they were inspired by a remark that Sid made to Ken before the match. Sid and Cliff Sutter had been tennis rivals for many years. “Cliff has never beaten me yet,” said Sid, “and damned if he is going to now.” Sid turned out to be a good forecaster.
Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
Historical Factoid: A native of New Orleans, Clifford Sutter was a superb tennis player, winning the NCAA singles championships for Tulane University in 1930 and 1932. He was undefeated in United States Davis Cup play (1931-33; 3-0 in singles), and was ranked No. 5 in the world in 1932.
Don began playing paddle in the early thirties and became a National Champion in 1943 with Charles O’Hearn as his partner. He was friendly with Blanchard and Cogswell and often contributed to the direction in which the game has evolved.
Don was a member of Innis Arden Golf Club in Old Greenwich, CT and an enthusiastic promoter of the game to the membership.
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