The December 10th, 1971 APTA Paddle Newsletter published the first ranking for Men and Women

“National Rankings were initiated this year for the first time. Men’s teams were ranked on the basis of play in at least 3 of 7 specifically selected tournaments during the year and the Women’s on the basis of 2 of 5 tournaments. The tournaments were selected and weighted on the basis of the size and quality of the draw.”

Gordon Gray and Jesse Sammis III were ranked first in the Men’s and B. J. DeBree and Gloria Dillenbeck were first in the Women’s

[click image at left to enlarge and see full list]

Source:The APTA Paddle Newsletter, Vol 3, No 1, December 10, 1971

The February APTA Paddle Newsletter discussed the issue of handling the large draws:

“As the Men’s Doubles grows, the APTA is faced with the problem of the strain of the tournament on the host club, particularly in that the tourney is held over two weekends. Of concern also is that players from out of town who are defeated on the first weekend must return the following weekend to see the semi-finals and finals. There is also the distinct possibility of having to have a larger draw than 128 teams. Accordingly, the 3 following alternatives are being considered:

The executive committee is interested in comments concerning the above 3 alternatives.”

The decision was subsequently made to adopt alternative one for both the Men’s and Mixed.

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter, Vol. 2 No. 2

The Annual Minutes reported:

“The APTA will have a new dues policy this year, notice of which has been sent out. Briefly, any individual who is a member of a dues paying club in the Association is eligible to play in any APTA Tournament. However, in order to be on the mailing list, he must pay annual dues of $3.00. Any individual who is not a member of a member club becomes a member of the Association upon payment of the $3.00 dues and can play in any APTA Tournament and will be put on the mailing list. (Obviously, one $3.00 payment is sufficient to cover the family).”

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter

On November 1st, 128 people attended the meeting at the Princeton Club in New York City. The Minutes reflected the creation of satellite events to satisfy the needs of the growing interest in the game; the introduction of National rankings; the rapid growth of women’s play; and a request to the Nominating Committee to nominate a woman as Co-Tournament Chair to give women representation on the Board.

The APTA also established a trophy for the “individual man or woman gaining the most points from tournament play,” with Moët Hennessey donating the cups each year.

The Minutes of the meeting also included comments by outgoing APTA President Paul Molloy on the progress made over the past two years of his term, the financial statements, tournament results, Men’s and Women’s Rankings and a brief report of developments with the ball.

The Nominating Committee report showed that there were now eight Regional VPs

At the end of the Meeting Dick Squires showed his latest promotional video Dick Squires Presents SMAC!

Source: The APTA Paddle Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 1