CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
1972:
Tournaments Prior to the Long Island U.S. Open. 1972: Update On World Play
Since Nagoya World’s.
Tournaments preceding the U.S. Open were held in Toronto and London, Ontario, and the major players there, it comes as no surprise, were those who’d been selected by the CTTA to receive 75% travel assistance to Long Island. Both at the Jan. Toronto Open and the Feb. Ontario Open in London, the Women’s winner was Violetta Nesukaitis, and both times in straight games over Helen Simerl who in Toronto had been forced into the 5th by just-turned-teenager Mariann Domonkos, a lock for the Girls Singles over Midget Singles Champ Biruta Plucas. At both tournaments, though, Simerl paired with Marie Kerr to take the Women’s Doubles from Violetta and sister Flora whose games still hadn’t meshed together as hoped.
Also, at both tournaments Errol Caetano was the Men’s winner—first over Derek Wall who’d had to go 5 to get by Jim Dixon, then 18 in the 5th over Peter Gonda. Errol and Violetta were, as expected, unchallenged in the Mixed, and Caetano and his regular Men’s Doubles partner, Gonda, won easily at Toronto, but lost to Modris Zulps/Guy Germain at London. In Juniors/Boys, Paul Klevinas and Steve Feldstein split. In Senior’s, Zulps had to –15, 14, 28, 22 fight tenaciously to down Max Marinko, then found 4-game relief in London against John Nesukaitis who was about to hold a three-day coaching clinic at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Meanwhile, a number of U. S. affiliates within driving distance of Long Island began gearing up for the Open by holding a tournament or two of their own. At the Feb. Rochester, N.Y. Open, Andy Anvelt not only won the 17’s but the Men’s as well—in the semi’s over penholder Neal Fox and in the final over Morris Meyers who’d advanced in 5 when Jim Shoots ran out of bullets. Not a woman or girl was reported to be playing Singles or Doubles in this tournament. Maybe not one was even watching? This while professional photographer Neal Fox was at the ready to snap photos that USTTA members could buy for $10 each—a fundraiser, not for Neal who’d donate his services, but for the International Team Fund and the University of Buffalo Table-Buying Fund. Men’s Doubles went to Charlie Burroughs/Shoots over Gary Carter/Don Coluzzi. Class A winner: Fox over Dave Berard. Class A Doubles: Meyers/Dave Harrison over Father/Son combo Bob/Tom Brickell, 19 in the 4th. Class B: Dave Griffin over Berard in 5. Senior’s: Burroughs over Meyers, also in 5. Senior Doubles: Walt Stephens/ Bill Hunt over Tom Shirley/John Kazak.
At the one-star Suffolk County (Long Island) Open, Jim Dixon and Fuarnado Roberts “entered but didn’t show, and Sam Hammond entered too late and wasn’t allowed to play.” (Those planning to enter the National’s take heed, don’t delay!) George Brathwaite won the Men’s—in straight games over Southern New England Champ Lim Ming Chui and finalist Errol Resek who lamented later to Topics that, though the National’s Program stated that he was sponsored by Chemical Bank, he, like his employer, the Bank, wanted to give credit only where credit was due—and, since the Bank hadn’t been helping him to his satisfaction, he needed another sponsor. Meanwhile, there was the occasional gig—as when in early Jan. Errol and George were invited to a York, Pennsylvania Sports Night bash. There they went playfully to bat against Vida Blue and Jim Palmer.
Hammond/Alex Shiroky won the Men’s Doubles from Chui/Resek. Women’s winner was Alice Green over Shazzi Felstein, 3-zip. Women’s Doubles went to Muriel Stern/J. Fishler over Peg Daly/Evelyn Zakarin; Mixed to Chui/Green over Hammond/Felstein. Class A: Harvey Gutman ($35) over Joe Ching ($25). A Doubles: Gutman/Mal Anderson over Ray Chen/Mohan Rao. Class B: Eric Phillips. Class C (almost 90 entries): Scrabble/Backgammon star Mike Senkiewicz. Senior’s: Henry Deutsch over, first, Boggan, then Marcy Monasterial. Junior’s (at least 40 entries): R.R. 1. Tim House (who’d earlier upset John McGraw and been down two match points to Carl Danner). 2. Gary Adelman. 3. Scott McDowell. 4. Rick Rumble.
Sixteen teams—with four A-B-C-D group winners—participated in the Feb. Pennsylvania Team tournament. A’s: 1st: Pittsburgh: Dan Seemiller (12-0), Joe Rokop (10-1), and Bill Zatek (8-1). 2nd: Philadelphia: Bill Sharpe (11-2), Hank McCoullum, George Rocker, and Stan Smolanowicz. B’s: 1st: Lancaster I: Bob Fritsch (12-0), Bob Cogley, Joe Hertz, and Bill Winger (8-4). C’s: 1st: Berwick: Ellis Alley, Dave Dickson, and Joe Scheno (11-2) who about this time, downing Karl Szakacs, had started his string of Lehigh Valley Open wins.
The Mar. 4-5 Pennsylvania Open, played at the Philly Club, proved a great warm-up for the National’s, and a chance for Herb Vichnin, who was providing Topics coverage, to exclaim that this weekend onlookers were treated to “probably the most exciting series of matches ever seen at a table tennis tournament” (May-June, 1972, 24-25). I’ll start with the Singles results—though, as we’ll see, it’s the Doubles play Herb’s most ecstatic about. Sam Hammond took the Men’s from Mitch Sealtiel, 23-21 in the 5th, after Mitch had won the 3rd at 19 to stay in the match. Up 21-20 in the 5th, Sealtiel “missed his favorite put away shot on a high lob from Hammond! $50 for one shot!” In earlier matches, both finalists rallied after being down 2-0—Hammond to Danny Seemiller; Sealtiel to Tim Boggan. Mitch also was behind 1-0 and at deuce in the 2nd before 19-in-the-4th downing Resek who’d survived Peter Stephens, 19 in the 4th.
In the Women’s Singles, when Alice Green didn’t show, Hilary Cohen, after eliminating Juanita Santana 17 in the 3rd, outlasted Girls U-17 winner Muriel Stern in the final in 5. In the Mixed, Herb tells us that since Boggan/Evelyn Zakarin were inadvertently left out of the event, it’s a good thing he, not Tim, is doing the write-up; and that when the Boggan/Zakarin team, inserted into the draw, right away met Sealtiel/Stern it was a break for the whole Philly Club that Tim and Evelyn won. The final, however, saw Stephens/Pat Hildebrand beat the Long Islanders in 5.
Best in Class A: Vic Landau over Danny Seemiller in 5. B’s: Timmy House over Hugh Ching. C’s: Mike Senkiewicz, winning a key 3rd 23-21, in 4 over Bruce Plotnick. Esquire’s went to George Rocker over Bob Green. Senior’s to Rocker over Boggan. Under 17’s: Joe Rokop won the 3rd 28-26 to take a 2-1 lead over Seemiller but couldn’t contest the 4th and 5th. Under 15’s: Joe Scheno over Scott McDowell, 19 in the 5th. Under 13’s: House over Mike Stern.
Herb’s article centers on the Doubles play of Danny Seemiller/Joe Rokop. First they sweep through their Junior Doubles—downing Plotnick/Jeff Zakarin in the final. Then, in the A Doubles, after finishing off House/Arthur Nieves, they’re in the final against Sharpe and Vichnin. “We know their consistent blocking games,” says Herb. “Have to loop short against them. Heavy and real short.” But neither Herb’s not Bill’s loop is consistent enough and they lose the 1st at 19—to two kids. “They should never beat us,” mutters Sharpe. “Come on, let’s play” (meaning me, says Herb). Sharpe/Vichnin win the 2nd by pushing, but are looped down in the 3rd. Behind 8-1 in the 4th, they push to a 21-11 win, then lead 10-5 in the 5th—have scored 30 of the last 38 points.
So how does this match end? Here’s Herb:
“We switch sides. 10-all! Sharpe yells, ‘You gotta topspin!’ I push. He yells. I yell. Deuce! Our ad. I miss. Our ad. I miss a serve. Our ad. Sharpe misses a serve. Our ad. Jesus Christ! Deuce! 24-all. Their ad! Oh, no. They’re just kids! How embarrassing! Rokop serves. I push. Seemiller loops. Sharpe hits it! Rokop counters it! I lob it (dumb!). Seemiller crushes a forehand which hits Sharpe in the worst possible place: his bat! 26-24! Sharpe and I scream at each other for a while (who the hell are these kids) and then stomp away mad. ‘We (meaning me) blew it,’ Sharpe says.”
“The kids have to catch a bus back to Pittsburgh,” says Herb: “Please,” they plead, “let us play our Men’s Doubles quarter-final so we can go home.” But—what’s this? “They walk through the third-seeded team of Errol Resek (current #3 nationally) and David Philip.”
“Please let us play our Men’s Doubles semi-final match so we can go home.”
O.K.—play. After two games vs. Bukiet/Sealtiel, the match is tied 1-1. But in the 3rd, it’s Seemiller/Rokop again. “Can this really be happening?” says Herb. Fourth game to Bukiet/Sealtiel. Class begins to tell? Fifth game: at the turn, the Juniors are up 10-5. Now they shift sides and the order changes—with this result:
“Rokop, receiving from Sealtiel, must now serve to Sealtiel. ‘What’s this?’ says Bukiet, as if he never played doubles before. ‘He just served! He has to receive?’ ‘That’s right,’ says Erich Haring, tournament referee. Well, this little trick really rattles the kids. Sealtiel to serve, 9-11! ‘What is this!’ screams Bukiet. ‘Now he’s serving again?’ (As if he didn’t know.) Rattle, kids, rattle. Argue with him! Take your mind off the game! 11-14, Seemiller to serve. “#@%&$!!” screams Seemiller [doing a little rattling of his own], as the crowd breaks up….Rokop [up 18-17], serves. Sealtiel pushes. Seemiller hits a heavy topspin to Bukiet. Bukiet pops it up! Rokop (who has a devastating forehand kill) kills it to Sealtiel’s backhand. But wait! He’s left-handed! That’s his forehand! Wham! Seemiller doesn’t even move, 18-all.”
Now, says Herb, when Sealtiel whacks another forehand but misses, and the Seemiller/Rokop pair go up 19-18, the Philly club members are all abuzz and start rooting for the kids out loud. Seemiller “kills his first shot of the match…under the table!”—and they’re at 19-all. Herb excitedly continues:
“Rokop serves. Sealtiel pushes. Seemiller pops it up….Bukiet hits a blazing forehand which passes Rokop’s ear on the fly! 20-19. Rokop…serves. Sealtiel pushes (no mistakes now). Seemiller loops. Bukiet pops it up….Wham! Rokop kills it to Sealtiel’s backhand. (That’s right, this time it is his backhand.) 21-19, Seemiller-Rokop!”
“Please let us play our Men’s Doubles final so we can go home.”
Sharpe’s leaving, but he’s not going home. “I gotta go back to work,” he says. Herb points out that Bill’s a cop “who worked all day at the tournament on Saturday, went on the 12-8 shift on Saturday night, came back to the tournament on Sunday morning, and is back to work again at night. And he’s 40 years old!”
Vichnin notes Sharpe’s comments to him on the way out. “Boy,” says Bill, “I thought we (meaning me) were playing bad, but I guess that we (meaning me) were playing over our heads! We (meaning him, I think) shouldn’t get so emotional!”
O.K., so who’s playing the kids in the final? Sam Hammond and Alex Shiroky, that’s who. Though they certainly were lucky to get there—having been down in the semi’s to George Brathwaite/Peter Stephens, 14-4 and 20-15 in the 5th! “Alex,” Vichnin calls out,”if you win this, we’ll give you the Junior Doubles trophies!” Uh-huh. But Bukiet feels the need to counsel Shiroky: “Don’t be afraid,” he cautions. But that first game all Alex does is soft topspin. Seemiller/Rokop win it 21-13. Vichnin is thinking what everyone else is: “Hit the goddamn ball, Shiroky!”…Sam and Alex win the 2nd, and are up 20-19 in the 3rd when Hammond hits the ball “on the edge of his bat. But, oh, oh! It hits the edge of the table! 21-19, Shiroky/Hammond. Play fair!” But the kids tie it up and go into the fifth:
Only now they have a bad-luck start: an edge for Shiroky; then, out of position, Alex “swipes at the ball in desperation,” and, though it “sails over the table,” it hits Danny’s racket; then Hammond/Shiroky get another edge—and Seemiller, down 6-3, “talks to the wall, the lights, the other tables.” But the leaders are conservatively back to the soft topspin, and have to keep moving “just to keep the ball in play, since it comes back as fast as they put it over.” Up 12-11, “Hammond topspins into Seemiller’s backhand. Wham! It’s gone, as Seemiller takes it just off the bounce with his ridiculous backhand….Shiroky looks around. Sealtiel says, ‘Don’t feel bad.’ The crowd roars.”
On they go: 15-all…18-all….Down 19-20 match point, Hammond topspins to Seemiller’s backhand—and, oh, that “ridiculous flick! 21-19! Pandemonium! Everybody’s jumping and waving and screaming”—except of course Hammond and Shiroky (and maybe a few silent sympathizers).
Wow, what a tournament, says Herb:
“Out of the ten 3-out-of-5 finals matches, 8 of them along with both semi’s of the Men’s Doubles (and a couple of other Men’s Singles matches), went to five games, with six of them finishing at deuce in the fifth! In these matches alone, there was a total of thirty deuce games!”
Next up: a Baltimore Invitational. The USTTA E.C. would shortly adopt rules for Invitational tournaments. Two of them were: “more than half of the invited participants” had to be USTTA members, and “the basis for selecting players to be invited…must be approved in writing by the Regional Tournament Director.” A few outsiders did play in this Invitational. The Men’s went to Tim Boggan in a –28, 17, 20, 17 final over Mark Radom, the current and 8-time Baltimore City Champion; the Women’s to Barbara Kaminsky over Yvonne Kronlage. Boggan/Tibor Hazi took the Men’s Doubles from Lem Kuusk/Bob Kaminsky. Women’s Doubles winners were Kaminsky/Kronlage over Margaret Brennan and Eleanor Pritchett. Brennan is the Baltimore Mixed Champ with Mort Greenberg who for three straight years has also been the City Men’s Doubles Champ with Radom. Pritchett presently holds the 1972 Women’s Doubles title with City Singles Champ Xuan Ferguson. Mixed went to Radom and Juanita Santana, the #1 ranked Woman/Junior Girl in Baltimore, over Boggan and Shellie Gainsburg, Girls U-13 winner over Sandy Bengtson. Boys U-13 winner: Scott Boggan over Mark Swerdlin.
Other results: A’s: Dr. Carl Gundersdorf (Baltimore # 4) over Bob Berkebile (#5). B’s: Bob Harris over Mike Feldman, deuce in the 5th (a reversal of their City A final). Best Baltimore Closed Esquire: Gus Sempeles; best Baltimore Closed Senior: Don Marston. Best Baltimore Closed Junior: Pat Lawlor.
At the March Buckeye Open in Columbus, John Tannehill won the Men’s from Tim O’Grosky; Joanne Pickett the Women’s from Mary Ann Burdick, Junior Girls winner over Kathy DeMent. Men’s Doubles Champs were Holloway/O’Grosky over Tannehill/Bill Hodge in the semi’s and Don Lyons/Jim Supensky in the final, both in 5. Mixed went to Tannehill/Burdick over John Temple/Barb Smith. A’s: Supensky over Dick Evans in 5. B’s: Bruce Abrams over C winner Little who’d ousted wheelchair whiz Mike Dempsey. A Doubles: Supensky/Holloway over Henry and Mark Wampler, voted “Outstanding Player” at the 1970 Ohio Intercities. Senior’s: Lou Radzeli over Holloway who, against Ron DeMent, had rallied (from a 21-3 2nd game that put him down 2-0) to a 21-19 win in the 5th. U-17’s: Dave Goin over Hank Coulter in 5. U-15’s: Burdick over Dempsey. Under 13’s: Greg Schuer over Jeff Williams.
The Feb. Winter Carnival, the first tournament at the spacious new Magoo’s, was written up for the Mar. 10, 1972 Minnesota Table Tennis News by Vince Koloski and also, confusingly, for Topics by several young Magoo writers. (Koloski, in an adjacent Topics article, Mar.-Apr, 1972, 24; 28, detailed the formation of the Minnesota High School Leagues, made up of 14 teams with “over 30 schools” on the waiting list).
Play for the Carnival’s 130 entrants was on 12 tables, and as the first-time format required that all semi’s and finals in all events be held the second day of the tournament, spectators on Sunday repeatedly got to see significant matches. The weekend was a success, though not exactly a merrymaking one because the “glossy finish on our 12 new Detroiters” made for a glare. “Severe eye strain was a common complaint and the choice of side became an important factor in the matches.” Since this Carnival write-up centered on the Class B, Class A, and Men’s, I’ll get to those in a moment, but, first, here are the results of the other events.
Women’s: Connie Disney over Colleen Mosio. Women’s A’s: Mary Ann Engelhart over Judy Nielson. This 10-entry event was very popular: “Pretty good play and very good girl watching.” Mixed Doubles: Bob Henze/Jo Rollins over the favored pair of Charlie/Connie Disney. Men’s Doubles: Doug Maday/Wayne Richter over #1 seeds, Disney/Alan Goldstein.
Also: Novice Doubles: Stu Sinykin/Jerry Taylor over Chuck Hagner/Vern Mondloh, an experienced pair “with an unorthodox style.” Jerry’s the Chair of Advertising and Leagues for the Minneapolis TTA, and, after establishing a league of 80 players at his General Mills Company he wrote an article for Topics (Sept.-Oct., 1971, 28) showing how a league can be established at any large company. Class C: Alan Hasham over Ed Hogshead in 5. Class C Consolation: Lindquist over Jerry Soderberg. Class D: Steve Steblay over John Soderberg. Men’s Consolation: Gus Kennedy over Ed Ells. Midgets: John Soderberg over Greg Mosio. Boys: John Soderberg in an upset over Steblay. Juniors: Rich Sinykin over Rick Cogswell. (In return for some exhibitions in which they’ll wear Munsingwear clothes, Rich and his friend Don Larson “found four sponsors to pay their way” ($450) to the National’s.)
“The A, B, and Men’s Open events were dominated by H.C. Chang, a 26-year-old college student from Madison, Wisconsin, who came into the tournament a virtual unknown and left with everything but the tables.” In the A’s, Chang lost his opening game, 25-23, to Minnesota Junior Champ Sinykin, but then steadied to win convincingly. “And he only practices once a month,” said someone in the crowd. Nor did Chang have the slightest trouble, as some thought he would, with Wisconsin’s Paul Wong. His final victim was Randy Priest who’d won a gutsy –19, 22, 15 semi’s over Jack Jensen.
In Class B, Chang crushed both Mohan Rao and Shu Fun Lee, which caused a rumor to start circulating that, “He was the Under 13 champ of Taiwan!” On getting by David Barnes and then Dennis Priest who seemed helpless to return those “tricky pen-holder serves,” Chang moved to the final where Cogswell, whose hitting was off, had no chance.
The Men’s format had five players advancing from Saturday night round robin play: Charlie Disney, Wayne Richter, Alan Goldstein, Paul Chang, and Doug Maday. Doug had had a shot at beating Paul—he’d lost the 1st at 18, but jumped off to a 7-0 lead in the 2nd, only to 10-all lose his advantage, then drop the game from 19-all. But then he’d gone on to 20, 15 down Goldstein. Alan, game for his 11:30 p.m. match, had scored an easy 10, 14 victory over Paul who’d looked exhausted.
New rumors could be heard circulating about Chang: “He hasn’t improved since he was 12.”… “He’s a strategy and tactics genius.” In the final round robin Sunday, Disney opened against Chang, and his “heavy topspin defense” helped him to win the 1st 23-21. But in the 2nd at 18-all a couple of his loops didn’t go in, and, failing to win that game, he lost momentum. Still from 9-2 down in the 3rd, he fought back…to 8-12…but couldn’t close the gap. “At 16-19 he missed a loop. ‘For Christ’s sake,’ he muttered as he walked in circles behind the table.” Then, returning to play, his togetherness complete, he dizzily served off. After Chang stopped Richter, so did Alan and Doug. That left Charlie and Alan to play the last match, and when Charlie won two straight, Chang was declared the winner, with Maday 2nd.
Had Goldstein beaten Disney in straight games, he would have been the Carnival Champion. So what could he do now but champion Charlie as “Empire Builder, Promoter Extraordinaire” (TTT, May-June, 1972, 21). He quotes Disney, who’s often not overly modest, as saying, “Soon the MTTA will have as many members as the USTTA.” Charlie, says Alan, “has 10 member clubs around the state and sends out a bi-monthly magazine to 1,300 interested people and organizations.” He’s gotten sports writers from the Minneapolis Tribune to write-up our Club activities, promoted Magoo TV interviews, interested gym teachers in the Sport and convinced the Athletic Director for the Minneapolis Public Schools to give teaching credits for teaching table tennis. Because Charlie’s “dream is to make table tennis a prestige sport comparable to tennis or golf,” he’s “available to go to your city to show you how to organize table tennis or give coaching clinics.” But you needn’t ask Charlie himself how he’s been so successful, Alan is acolyte enough:
“How does he do it? Salesmanship, creative ideas, and an ability to motivate people. The new Magoo’s club has a special team spirit, probably best exemplified by the pioneer spirit and communal feeling in an Israeli kibutz. Everyone must work for the club, including the top players. For example, I am the #1 player in the state but I was slow in painting a small room as my contribution to the new club. After a few warnings from Charlie I suddenly found that no one in the club would play with me. I painted the room in a hurry.”
On Mar. 11, Dirk Petersen tells us, Wisner, Nebraska, “a little town of 1,300 people,” held its first sanctioned tournament, a Closed, and drew 82 participants. Not bad—though the organizers are aiming high. “Wisner is known as the beef center of America. We would like to see it as one of the country’s table tennis centers.” Both the Men’s and the A’s was won by Kiichi Sato of Japan, now a University of Nebraska student. Finalists Tom Walsh in the Men’s and Scott Ichkoff in the A’s fell victim to “Sato’s quickness and ability to loop.” In Men’s Doubles, however, Sato and his partner Kenzo Itoh were upset by Charles Polson and Jon Deuchler—“with Polson working to set the ball up for Deuchler’s great forehand smash.” Only, Polson/Deuchler didn’t win either, but came 2nd to Walsh/Jerry Malec. Diana Myers of course won the Women’s and Senior Girls (over Kathy Moeller) and the Mixed with Dick Ichkoff (over Scott Petersen/Risch).
According to Tom Walsh, the Nebraska Open unexpectedly drew so many entries
that the tournament lingered “until past one in the morning”—which meant “that all the spectators had gone home, that some of the best matches of the night went unnoticed.” Junior Murray Kutler, poor guy, was sick and couldn’t play in the tournament. As for Omaha’s other Junior star, Scott Ichkoff, Walsh sees him as a “mirror image” of himself. He’s “the only accomplished junior who plays with a pimpled rubber bat—like his father, Richard Ichkoff, years ago a ranked Chicago player….Scott has the knack of blocking well off the backhand…and countering sharply from the forehand.”
The Men’s Championship was Double Elimination. On one side of the Draw, David Barnes edged Harry Sandner, 19 in the 3rd. On the other, perennial Omaha Champion, Steve Flansburg, in an early match was “having great difficulty with nets and edges against a surprisingly strong Charles Polson of the South Omaha Boys Club”; while Walsh, misadvised to play Marcus Ng’s no-rubber/plain-wood backhand, gave that up and began chopping and pick-hitting to Ng’s forehand just in time. After which, Flansburg, moaning about his lack of practice and inability to loop, dropped the 1st game to Walsh, but then successfully kept putting the ball to his forehand where Tom perversely kept picking the wrong balls to hit.
In the Winners’ Bracket, Flansburg won the 1st from Barnes at 19, then, on rallying from 6-16 down to 19-all, couldn’t close and the match was tied. In the 3rd game, their pattern of play was “push-push-push-loop for Steve, return, smash—in or out.” When David’s return didn’t bring a high ball that Steve could smash, his second loop wasn’t so effective. Occasionally David would pick-hit hard, “not easy to do against the wily-fox spin-changer Flansburg.” The match finally went to Barnes, 28-26, on a net ball.
In the Losers’ Bracket, Walsh said he was able to beat Sandner from the mid-game 3rd because he had an “inspiration: I decided to play to Harry’s strong forehand….I served everything to the forehand and chopped until he tried to drop me; then I moved in and smashed” for an easy win. Against Flansburg, Walsh was down 1-0 and at 18-all in the 2nd— “at which point,” said Tom, “I hit one of my best forehand kills toward mid-table, but Steve was there to chop one of those unreturnable chops: it hit the net stiffly, dipped to my side, and before I could reach it, it jumped back to his side of the table—his point because I hadn’t returned it.” Eventually Tom lost this 3rd game at deuce. In the match for the Championship, “Steve was near exhaustion…he hadn’t much left.” Barnes again “finished his win with a net.”
Other winners: Men’s Doubles: Barnes/Scott Grafton over Walsh/Dick Ichkoff, 26-24 in the 3rd in the semi’s, and over Sandner/David Ho in the final. Women’s: Diana Myers over Kathy Moeller. Mixed: Sandner/Myers over Walsh/Debbie Denenberg. A’s: Bob Gellner (hitting the ball “seemingly at the last second it can be hit”) 29-27 in the 3rd over Marcus Ng “whose disconcerting habit of pushing and blocking with the wood side of his bat” produces such a “difference in spin and trajectory” that it’s “sometimes paralyzing for opponents.” A Consolation: Leo Kurdika over Physics Professor Jim Craig, 19 in the 3rd. Class B: Jon Deuchler in the semi’s over Omaha Club Secretary Lee Larson, and in the final over tricky penhold server Francis Mah. Class C: Craig over Scott Ichkoff.
At the Mississippi State University Open, Topics reporter Richard Kissel was astonished at the straight-game ease with which 15-year-old John Quick went through two of the South’s best players—semifinalist Homer Brown and finalist Don Gaither. “We were just a little embarrassed that the large group of spectators who came out didn’t see the thrills we promised.” However, said Richard, local spectators did enjoy watching the hard rubber match between “MSU history professor, Cliff Anderson, who has recently come out of table tennis retirement” and Atlanta Closed Senior Champ Cyril Lederman. Cliff, with his “almost-impossible-to-get-through chop defense that once made him a nationally ranked player,” was more than a match for Cyril and his backhand picks.
Other results: Men’s Doubles: Gaither/Brown over Ralph Kissel/Bill Edwards. Class A: Ted Bassett over Ray Filz in 5. Class B: Hugh Lax over Richard Coffman—but Hugh’s toughest match was with Larry Fisher, after Larry had eliminated Wendell Dillon, a name we’ll hear quite a bit of in the next 30-some years. Under 17’s: Quick over Bill Edwards.
For the 20th Annual Arizona Open “conducted on ten Brinktun tables in the spacious Cortz High Gymnasium in Phoenix,” Club President Forrest Barr was happy to announce that the “entry total of 105 from five states was the largest ever in Arizona.” California’s Howard Grossman was a triple winner. “Displaying artistic defensive skills, mixed with occasional offensive outbursts from either wing,” Howie won a 5-game Men’s final from former Arizona Champ, Mark Adelman of San Diego, after Mark had 19-in-the-5th barely survived his semi’s with El Paso’s Mac Horn. Howie also took both Doubles—the Men’s with Mark over Senior winner Dan Banach/Eric Thom, and the Mixed with Heather Angelinetta over Mark DaVee/Angelita Rosal. Women’s went to 15-year-old Angelita who’s now much too good for Heather.
Other winners: A’s: DaVee, also 15, over Salt Lake City’s Brian Sykes. A Doubles: Bill Guerin/John Harrington over Roger Yee/Dan Yu. B’s: Angie Rosal over Russ Singer. B Doubles: Dan and Andy Yu over Si and Bill Kenig. C’s: Jack Simontab of Salt Lake City over Harry Leong of Tucson. Wheelchair Singles (a new event): Mike Dempsey, now playing out of Corpus Christi, Texas, over Jerry Swanson of Phoenix. The 25th Annual Pacific Coast Open, held a week before St. Paddy’s Day in Dublin, up near San Francisco, offered Californians their last chance to warm-up for the Mar. 17-19 Long Island National’s (38 from California are entered there). Dieter Fuss, in his Topics coverage (May-June, 1972, 14) sets the Bay Area scene for us:
“Friday afternoon the new Dublin High School gym became a large table tennis center. Friday evening the “D” Singles and doubles served as a dress rehearsal for the next two days, and by Saturday morning the gym overflowed with organized madness—players battling for their lives on 16 tables—the scoring table crew of Harry Nelson, Brian Zimmerman, and Bron Nelson announcing another match for the third time—Lou Bochenski selling everything from shoes to rule books—50 people standing around the registration desk asking for the draw sheets and information that was sent to them with their entry form—dozens of empty soft-drink cans clanking their way down the bleachers—and a few people enjoying it all.”
Well, maybe more than a few, because from Bard Brenner we hear how so many Dublin Club families put up out-of-towners in their homes—with Dieter’s family accommodating nine houseguests.
Winners: Championship (open to men and women): Erwin Klein ($200) over Glenn Cowan ($100) who was down 2-1 to Denis O’Connell who was down 2-1 to Vancouver’s Philip Cheng. Women’s: Angelita Rosal ($50) 19 in the 5th in the semi’s over Patty Cash ($20), and 19 in the 4th in the final over Judy Bochenski ($30) who’d escaped Wendy Hicks ($20), 18 in the 5th. Men’s Doubles: Mark Adelman/Eric Thom over George Makk/Jeff Mason. Women’s Doubles: Cash/Bochenski over Rosal/Heather Angelinetta. Mixed Doubles: Zoltan Pataky/Bochenski over Thom/Rosal. A’s: Cash over Richard Terry in 5. A Doubles: Bolar Naik/Kwan Wong over Greg Sherman/Jerald “Jerry” Crumley.
Also: Esquire’s: Allan Herskovich over Russ Thompson. Senior’s Herskovich over Dan Banach. Senior Doubles: Thompson/Richard Badger (after being down 2-0) over Monico Rosal/Banach. Boys U-17: Paul Raphel over Thom. Boys U-15: Mike Dempsey over Calvin Chow, 17, 25, -19, 19. Boys U-13: Galardi over Chick Chui. Girls U-17: Bochenski over Rosal. Girls U-15: B.C.’s Leslie Ward over Monica Rosal. Junior Doubles: Raphel/Bochenski (from down 2-0 and at deuce in the 3rd) over Thom/Rosal.
In an article bordering the one on the Pacific Coast tournament, Greg Sawin* tells us how he and fellow San Francisco Club members Les Madden and Richard Terry “went into San Francisco’s Chinatown district to see a professionally made film of the World Championships in Nagoya.” The cinematographers were from Hong Kong, so not surprisingly the film was reportedly shown “to capacity crowds there.” Of course in Swaythling Cup footage, one couldn’t miss Hong Kong’s 5-1 victory over the U.S. Greg noted that the film played at San Francisco’s Sun Sing Theater “for about a week” and that on the Friday, Feb. 4th night he and his friends watched, the theater “was about ¾ full.” The film was “in black- and-white with English narration and English and Chinese sub-titles. The sounds of the ball and the audience reaction were dubbed in.”
A wide variety of play in all events was offered—and, though Greg would have liked the filmmakers to have included such East-West matches as Hasegawa vs. Bengtsson, Li Ching-kuang vs. Johansson or Orlowski, and Pak Sin Il vs. Secretin, he was pleased to see Li Ching-Kuang against Beleznai. All in all, he felt the two-hour selection provided “a nice summary of the World’s.” I might also add that one of those finals he watched had to be Men’s Doubles with Champs Jonyer and Klampar. Fun cartoon, Greg.
I’m sure the Chinese had their cameras ready for the “Friendship First, Competition Second” Afro-Asian Invitational in Peking in early Nov., 1971. “Fifty-one Associations were present, and no doubt there were many players from emerging nations thrilled to be playing outside their country for the first time. Such goodwill the Chinese were generating—they’d also entertained five South American countries, and next year were going to invite Latin American Associations as well. Why, it’d be a little World Championships. Right now there were titles for everyone: Men’s Team’s: 1. Japan. 2. North Korea. 3. China. Women’s Team’s: 1. China. 2. North Korea. 3. Japan. Men’s Singles: Japan’s Hasegawa over Kohno in 5. Women’s Singles: China’s Chen Huai-ying over North Korea’s Pak Yeung Ok in 5. Men’s Doubles: China’s Li Ching-kuang/Tiao Wen-yuan over His En-ting/Liang Ko-liang, 19 in the 5th. Women’s Doubles: Japan’s Ohzeki/Konno over Kawamorita/Onuma in 5. Mixed: North Korea’s Pak Sin Il/Pak Yeung Ok over Japan’s Kohno/Fukuno.
East met West when, after the Afro-Asian Invitational, the Chinese Team took a unique 13-day Tour of Matches in Manchester, Birmingham, and London, as well as in Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Philip Reid remarked that the Chinese won or lost Matches in kindly fashion. One player in particular Phil couldn’t praise enough—Liang Ko—er, now Liang Ke-liang: “His defense was almost impenetrable, his attack came from either wing and nobody have I seen in recent years who could kill the ball off service like he could with his backhand. His play had a sort of moonbeam quality about it which was lacking in every other player.”
While I’m at it—or rather now that Phil is at it (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1972, 6, and March-April, 1972, 4;14)—here are the results of three big English tournaments prior to the English Open in early March. The first of these, the 3-star Midland Open, occurred in Dec. while the Chinese were still on their Tour of the British Isles. The Men’s went to speedy Nicky Jarvis over Tony Clayton who’d downed Barry Meisel in the semi’s. Jarvis, in his semi’s, stopped his clubmate Denis Neale, 21, 19, by looping “as much as possible” and keeping Denis, bothered by a sore shoulder, “off the attack.” Women’s winner was Judy Heaps over Linda Howard, after Judy had upset Karenza Mathews. Derek Schofield won the Over 40’s from Terry Donlon.
At the Jan., 1972 English Closed, Chester Barnes “withdrew on medical grounds,” while Alan Hydes, who lost to Sweeris in the semi’s of the Sept. CNE, was upset by Alan Ransome—“a shock of some magnitude.” In the one semi’s, Ransome lost to 14-year-old David Alderson who was beaten in the English Junior Closed by Birmingham’s Des Douglas, “a left-hander of immense promise.” However, Des then fell to Peter Taylor (Trevor’s brother) who in turn was stopped by the winner, Simon Heaps. (With the help of Coca-Cola Bottlers, Ltd., Peter, Simon, and Ian Horsham, with Bryan Merrit as their Manager, would later be sent to train and compete in Sweden.) In the other Men’s semi’s, played really for the Championship since Alderson wasn’t good enough to challenge for the title, Trevor Taylor defeated Denis Neale, 19 in the 5th. When Trevor won, he, untypically, said Reid, “leapt in the air, kicked down the barriers, and raced round the table.”
Think that loss will hurt the sale of Neale’s The Way to the Top? Although our Topics reviewer, Don Gunn, can be waspish—“There is also a new book by the seventeen-year cicada of table tennis, Jack Carrington. It would be better if he times his books to the cycle of Halley’s comet”—he lets Neale off easy:
“…Neale believes in the full arsenal of strokes; he takes himself and life seriously. Unfortunately, table tennis books are too often just peas from the same pod. They become interesting only when they reveal those aspects of table tennis which most of us can never see: World Championships, team training, behind-the-scenes politics, and just plain back-biting. What the authors say about themselves can seldom be taken seriously.
It’s not that they deliberately lie, though this too may occur, but self-analysis is quite difficult not to mention dangerous….Like other author-champions…[Neale] advocates long and rigorous training periods. He claims to have started without coaching, and not to have read a table tennis book. Perhaps that is the whole answer to success…” (TTT, March-April, 1972, 4).
At the Middlesex Open, Les Haslam, ranked #1 in the Caribbean (George Brathwaite and Fuarnado Roberts are respectively #2 and #3) was upset early; the Scottish #1 Malcolm Sugden, who lost to D-J Lee 25-23 in the deciding 3rd at the ’69 Dortmund World’s, went down to a hard rubber player, Henry Buist (“tried sandwich but couldn’t feel the ball”); and English National’s Tony Clayton and Nicky Jarvis were also ousted early. Winner was Chester Barnes over Trevor Taylor. In Men’s Doubles, Haslam/Mike Johns knocked out Barnes/Taylor, but lost in the final to Clayton/Laurie Landry who’d also won the Doubles at the Midland Open. Women’s went to Shelagh Hession over Karenza Mathews in the semi’s and a much-improved Linda Howard in the final.
East met West again, as writer/historian Zdenko Uzorinac, a former Yugoslav International, tells us (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1972, 3, and March-April, 1972, 3)—first, when World #1 China, no doubt considering that the 1973 World’s will be in Sarajevo, invited Yugoslavia, World #3, to play matches in Peking, Canton, and Shanghai. In Peking, the best Chinese and the best Yugoslavs split ties—while more than 400,000,00 people watched them play on TV.
China then sent Men’s and Women’s Teams to three European Opens in Nov., 1971. First they went to the Yugoslav Open at Novi Sad, but, alas, if Li Fu-jung did come as scheduled, he did not make an auspicious debut as trainer/coach. France beat the Chinese men; Russia the Chinese women. Sweden’s World Champion Bengtsson won the Men’s over France’s World #18 Secretin; Romania’s World #8 Alexandru the Women’s over Hungary’s World #23 Kishazi, winner earlier of the European Union’s Ranking Tournament. However, at the French Open in Paris, China won the Men’s and Women’s Team’s. But Bengtsson again beat Secretin to take the Men’s, while in the all-China Women’s final Chu Pao-kin defeated Chang Li in 5.
The Scandinavian Open saw Sweden shut out the Chinese in the Men’s Team’s, and Kjell Johansson win the Men’s title. It was much to Johansson’s credit that, despite having been “out of training for more than a month” (he’d had “some kind of jaundice but fortunately recovered from it very soon”), he rallied in the semi’s from 0-2 and 19-20 down to Germany’s Ebby Schoeler, and in the final from 0-2 down to China’s Tia Ven-jan. Bengtsson was upset by Hungary’s “relatively inexperienced” Gabor Gergely. World semifinalist His En-ting went down to England’s Neale. China’s Li Ching-kuang was beaten by Yugoslavia’s Korpa. Best in Women’s was Sweden’s own Birgitta Radberg who, though “not ranked in the top 15 in Europe,” defeated Hungary’s Judit Magos in the semi’s and China’s Cheng Hui-jing in the final.
China played their best men—Li Ching-kuang, His En-ting, and Liang Ko-liang at the Jan. 23-25, 1972 Roumanian Open in Bucharest—but the Yugoslavs beat them in the Team’s. Also, Karakasevic, who’d won the Bulgarian Open in Dec., was the Men’s winner over his teammate Stipancic. The Chinese women took the Team’s, but lost the Singles when Alexandru downed Hu Ju-lan.
Hungary’s World #10 Jonyer had won this summer’s European Union’s Ranking Tournament, but at the Oct. Hungarian Open, his teammate Klampar had beaten him, 19 in the 5th after being down 2-0. In the Women’s, Germany’s World #20 Agnes Simon had stopped Russia’s European Champion Rudnova.** Now at the late Jan. Czech Open in Bratislova, Uzorinac calls attention to the “fantastic, extraordinary final,” won in 5 by Johansson over Jonyer. “Counter-attacks from long distances and from all positions! The 1500 people in the audience applauded for 10 minutes!” Hungarian penholder Magos, World #27, kept up a relentless attack to defeat defender Kishazi whose game she must know well and feel very comfortable playing.
At the West German Open, however, both Kishazi and Magos lost to Rudnova (Magos in the final of the Singles too) as the Russians won the Women’s Team’s from Hungary. The Swedes beat the Hungarians in the Men’s Team’s, and in the Singles Johansson stopped Bengtsson in a straight-game final.
How prominent Yugoslavia is in European table tennis! Where is the “official competition for the best Europeans,” the Top 12 tournament, being played? Zagreb. And who will win the Men’s and the $450 1st prize? Zagreb’s 22-year-old Anton “Tova” Stipancic, whose 8-2 (18-6) record just beat out Bengtsson’s 8-2 (16-9). Sweden’s Johansson couldn’t finish, came down with pneumonia, but, as he’d beaten all 4 top-ranked Yugoslavs in the field, a local paper awarded him a special prize. The great German player Schoeler finished last with a 2-8 record, worth $50. Lorenz Jacobsen, who was at the West German Open, and likes to keep readers abreast of what rackets the world-class players are using (TTT, May-June, 1972, 24) said that this season Schoeler “put 1 mm L-Sriver on his forehand side [in place of 1.2 mm Allround] and his defense has yet to adjust if it ever does.”
Uzorinac gives us some recent background on the Men’s Champion:
“Stipancic underwent a crisis at the beginning of the season. He lost in early rounds in each international tournament….He gained 10 kg. And a real ‘belt’ around his stomach, was very slow at the table, and just didn’t seem to be willing to work….And then he realized that what he was doing was wrong, and he started to train two times a day (!). He became thin like a mannequin, and with continued hard work came into his best form.”
Hungary’s Beatrix Kishazi won the Women’s Top 12 and $250 with an astounding 11-0 record. Alexandru (8-3) was 2nd. Kishazi has “soft rubber on her forehand side, and the so-called ‘anti-topspin’ rubber on her backhand, and she very wisely neutralizes her opponent’s attacks, causing great problems to all with different kinds of ball rotation.” Her coach, former European Champion Zoltan Berczik, says she practices a lot with the Stiga robot. So people call her the “Hungarian machine.”
Such an appellation might well have been Victor Barna’s. Sad to report the great 5-time World Champion, whose career I’ve followed in earlier volumes, died of heart failure Feb. 27 in the intensive care unit of a Lima, Peru hospital.
SELECTED NOTES.
*As his friend Yim Gee tells us in a remembrance (USA Table Tennis, July, 2004, 28), Greg Sawin was born a hemophiliac—but that didn’t stop him from playing sports. “One day he was playing catch with another kid, the rubber ball accidentally hit his left eye, and vision was lost in that eye for life.” But he loved Table Tennis, and would be one of those Californians who came cross-country to Long Island for the 1972 U.S. Open. There, however, more bad luck for the now 22-year-old—“a dose of contaminated Factor 8 he took to stop bleeding…[made him] come down with Hepatitis C, a disease of the liver.” Still, he went on to a successful career as a writer and editor, and would be active in our Sport for the next 30 years. When the Chinese Team came to the U.S. following the ‘72 U.S. Open, Mike Greene (who’d shot rolls of film at the Nagoya World’s, then duplicated and sold them) took films of them playing their last exhibition matches at Stanford, and these too were duplicated and sold—with Sawin handling the orders for Mike.
** I know, from a Nov. 13, 1971 letter Doug Cartland wrote to a past or present girlfriend of Reisman’s, that he attended this Hungarian Open with his savvy friend Alex Ehrlich, the famous International player/coach. Much of the letter has to do with Doug rejecting out of hand a Word Contest at which he’s a master (“millions of combinations…it is no good”), and of trying to get inside information about another. He and Ehrlich are also maneuvering to buy, as cheaply as possible Stiga bats, rubber, balls, and to serve as an intermediary in the purchase of a robot. Reisman is given greetings from world-famous champions Sido and Andreadis, and sympathetically chastised for not practicing and so losing to Alex Shiroky’s brother Connie in I presume the “racquet game”—see Alan Bell’s “The Racket Game Racket” (TTT, Feb., 1981, 15)—a variation of play in which each server tries to win the point, and so keep serving, by hitting the handle of a tabled front-and-center placed racquet of his opponent, thus making a return almost impossible. After telling of Klampar’s win over Jonyer, Doug makes these observations:
“Schoeler lost to some Hungarian junior after being ahead 13-8 in the fifth. He looked tired and nervous and made errors while losing. I think he is finished now. [Not quite finished, but the 1971 and 9-time German Closed Champion is never again to win the National title.] Bengtsson…was behind 2 to nothing to a Hungarian chopper (Borszai) but played very well to win. Then the next match he played Gomozkov from Russia and I gave two to one on the match, thinking the Russian, who is not too good, had no chance. Imagine my surprise to find that the Russian won 21-10, 21-10, 21-9 and every time he hit his backhand it went through Bengtsson. How lucky he [Stellan] was to win the World’s. This is the last tournament he has won….[The] best woman player, the one Ehrlich says can beat Marty and Miles, the Russian Rudnova, lost to a German girl, Agnes Simon, whom I can beat easily [Doug is 58].