CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

 

            1972: Fall Tournaments—I (Chui Upsets D-J at Houston).

 

            Moving to the other side of Canada, I note that B.C.’s Art Barran retained his CTTA Presidency, and that the annual Hungarian Memorial Open, played in Oct. at Vancouver’s Douglas Park, drew the usual players and local officials. Roberts, Ruttinger, and Joe Lee’s suspension wouldn’t be lifted until Jan. 31, 1973. But Barran and B.C. didn’t want to go there? Championship Singles: Rob Roberts zipped Zoltan Pataky, 12, 14, 9. (As well as Pataki’s been playing, how is such a bad beating possible?) Women’s: Leslie Ward over Hendrickson, 23-21 in the 4^th. Championship Doubles: Roberts/Tom Ruttinger over Yuki Yamada/L.K. Lo. Mixed Doubles: Pataky/Ward over Eric Calveley/Hurwood. A’s: Bill Dean (had to be New England’s Bill Dean?) over Seattle’s Yamada, 24-22 in the 5^th. B’s: Leslie Joe over George Stefanissin. C’s: Dr. Peter Athwal over Woo. Senior’s: Frank Karika over Hugh Ward, -25, 13, -17, 19, 18. Junior Men: Peter Joe over O.S. Athwal. Junior Women: Ward over Joy Jenkins.

            The B.C. Association players, as their Chief Umpire Rolland Bourassa tells us, played host to a Peruvian team (Ezzio and Giancarlos Scottini, Luis Legarda, Jose Viacaba, Antonio Gomez, Maritza Chiappo, and Fina Salazar) that included a Nov. 4th International Match—which the visitors won 8-3. B.C. participants were: Peter Joe, Philip Cheng, Paul Albrecht, Zoltan Pataky, Eric Calveley, Brenda Henricson, Joy Jenkins, Leslie Ward, and Merle Baggoo-Weekes. Only Joe, Cheng, and Pataky were able to register wins.

             Here was Irene Ogus, a week before the Tryouts for the 1973 U.S. World Team, winning the San Francisco Fall Open. Could she be considering a move to try and make the Team? Men’s winner: Richard Terry over Jeff Mason. (Best Men’s match: George Makk over Azmy Ibrahim in 5.) At the Modesto Closed, Mason won the Masters Singles over Mike Greene, and Mason/Terry the Doubles over Greene and Mohammed Aghili. A’s: Greene over Jim Naik. B’s: Harry Nelson over C winner Peter Groot. Senior’s: Nelson over Byng Forsberg.

            The Sept. Hollywood Olympics sounds like it might involve marathon play—or that Brazilian Team game Ray Mack told me they play at the Hollywood Club. Three or four players make up a team. To begin, two players play a point to see who keeps the table (and the serve). Game’s to 50. Players alternate. You lose the point, you sit down, wait for another chance. Ray says, “There’s no time to feel out an opponent. It’s tough to play a quality point after waiting around.”

            Olympics results: Open Championships: Raphel over Denis O’Connell. Men’s: Joong Gil Park over Ray Guillen (who runs the Club for Milla?). Best matches: Park in 5 over Bill Ukapatayaskul who rallied from down 2-0 to knock out Raphel, deuce in the 5^th. Howie Grossman over Jack Howard in 5. Women’s: Priscilla Parker over Angie Rosal, 17 in the 4^th. Men’s Doubles: Final: Ukapatayaskul/Nick Mintsiveris over Guillen/Raphel. Semi’s: Bill U/Nick over Bob Ashley/Ichiro Hashimoto, 18 in the 5^th; Guillen/Raphel over Park/Russ Thompson, 20, -20, 23, -18, 17. Mixed Doubles: Eric Thom/Rosal over Grossman/Heather Angelinetta in 5, then (from down 2-0) over Guillen/Parker.

            The A’s went to Brenner over B winner Goodstein who stopped Bill Garrett, 19 in the 3^rd. Mack remembers Garrett, A Doubles winner here with Harold Kopper, as “a strapping 6’4” athlete who played with a 69-cent paddle, held upside down by the outside of the blade (he had enormous hands).” He was a chopper—chopped and pick-hit with either hand. “He was one of the top perspirers in all of TT history. Top five, at worst! After playing a game with him, you needed a towel to clean up the mess.”

            Over in the Southwest Marianne Szalay and her Houston Team go off to the mid-Sept. Mexico City Invitational to play the Mexicans and Guatemalans in the beautiful Gimnasio Olimpico where TV cameras would continually film play. In addition to the weekend table tennis, the players were taken to nearby Pyramids and visited the City’s Museum of Anthropology. The Guatemalans were very weak—Houston’s Cecil Kost, D. G. Van Vooren, and Brad Fountain beat them 5-0 without losing a game. But the Mexican Azul (“Blue”) team of veterans put up some fight, went down 5-1. Aurelio Jano, the Mexican penholder of Japanese descent, defeated a not-feeling-well Fountain, 2-1. Then the current Mexico National Champion from Germany, the hard rubber player Peper Bernthaler (on winning the 1^st 25-23 and at deuce in the 2^nd) almost finished Van Vooren who’d earlier downed the Mexico City Champion, the wood blocker Jesus Gil.

            However, as Van Vooren reports (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1972, 19), the youthful Mexican Verde (“Green”) team wasn’t as “green” as they’d been last year when the Texans beat them easily. Now they had a Japanese Coach named Kamata, and his charges, unleashing 3^rd-ball attacks, forced the winning Houstonians (it was their 1^st tie) into the 3^rd game of the 9^th match before succumbing. Also, as Van Vooren told a reporter, the Texans weren’t as yet “completely accustomed to the bounce of these fast tables or to the altitude of Mexico City.”

Results: Armando Quintero d. Don Weems, 2-1; Manuel Silva d. Kost (who hadn’t played for a month); Fountain d. Roberto Otero, 2-1 (a huge swing match, for Brad had been down triple match-point in the 2^nd game before winning 19 in the 3^rd); Kost d. Quintero; Fountain d. Silva; Otero d. Weems; Fountain d. Quintero; Silva d. Weems, 2-1; Kost d. Otero, 2-1.

In Men’s Singles play, the Texans didn’t fare well. Weems lost in 3 (key was a 23-25 1^st game). Bob Mandel went down in 3 (25-27 in the 3^rd), then, sick with Montezuma’s revenge, left immediately for the hotel. Fountain broke his paddle, played with Rene Rodriguez’s, which he never got the feel of. Rodriguez arrived late, never had

a warm-up, lost two straight. Van Vooren was beaten 25-23, 21-19. Kost got to the quarter’s, dropped two deuce games. Winner? Silva over Gil.

The Guatemalans didn’t bring any women players, but Houston’s Szalay and Shirley Woo beat the Mexican Women’s team, 3-1. A very nervous Marianne opens to the cameras by losing in the 3^rd to 13-year-old Carmen Villoro. But then Shirley Woo, counter-driving from 10 feet back, rushing in for picks, wins 2-0, to tie the tie. Next: the doubles—which Van Vooren says might have been the most exciting match of the tournament. Our girls win in 3 very close games. However, the most startling play seen by TV viewers is yet to come. After winning the 1^st, Marianne is down 20-13 in the 2^nd, but, determined to go all out hitting, she wins 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 in a row to take the match and give the U.S. the tie. With that cap to the weekend, Marianne hopes there can be an International like this every year and that teams from other countries will get involved.

            Three weeks later, Houston itself held an ambitious “Invitational” that drew to the Fonde Rec Center the top U.S. players. The USTTA had to call it an “Invitational,” rather than an “Open,” because there couldn’t be any doubt that the thousands of dollars in prize money the sponsors were giving out would exceed the ITTF restrictions of so many Swiss francs per event. (As this ITTF rule is much too restrictive, impedes the progress of the Sport, President Boggan will write a letter to the ITTF member countries urging it be done away with.) The sponsors, I was told, were the City of Houston and Holiday Inn—but maybe I should just stress that if anyone were responsible for it all, it had to be Tournament Chair Marianne Szalay. And despite the help she got from local club members—Bob O’Neill, for instance, who expertly time-scheduled all the matches—you’d think, with all the luminaries that came, it was maybe more than she could handle….And it was, but more of that later.

            Most preeminent of those who came was D-J Lee, driving 29 hours non-stop from Cleveland to Houston, accompanied by his exhibition partner Richard Farrell who unfortunately can’t drive a car. They’ve been barnstorming round the country. Eugene Kunyo, who helps Lee sell as much equipment as he can at tournaments, is with them in the car—and he can drive. But D-J will only be relieved for an hour or so the entire 1300-mile trip. He wants to make sure they all get there on time, for he knows from experience that if you’re not careful slip-ups can occur. Along the way he drives with his non-playing hand on the steering wheel, and with the other exercises with a dumbbell.

            So, o.k., Lee gets to Houston, sets up shop, and is doing just fine. He practices a little with Farrell, plays two leisurely tournament matches—and then meets Lim Ming Chui. Ming has heard from Chen Pao-ching, one of his Chinese opponents on the ’72 reciprocal “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” Tour, that a blocker (Chui) should never lose to a looper (Lee)—and he believes it. The pattern of play goes something like this. If Lee loops hard, Chui just blocks, and D-J, to win the point, has to begin to tire himself by spinning forehand after forehand. “Lee needs so much energy,” says Chui, “it’s amazing he can do so well.” If Lee doesn’t loop hard, Chui goes all out with what he calls his “Chinese block,” a hard, angled-off forcing shot that’s almost a drive, that enables him—with both feet off the floor, his singing bird of “happiness” medallion flying every which way round his neck—to bullet away the return. 

            First game: Chui 21, Lee 11. Could it be that D-J after 5 years of play in this country.is about to lose his first sanctioned-tournament match to a U.S. player? Second game: Chui 21, Lee 16. The crowd is already stunned:  History’s in the making?

In the third, Ming is winning 4 out of every 5 points on D-J’s serve. His-wooden-side-of-the-racket backhand, his nothing ball, is giving Lee plenty of trouble—D.J. can’t spin well against it. Soon Lee is down 14-9, waiting now in between points, thinking, or trying to, and taking phantom strokes….Down 17-11, he fails to return serve, and it’s just about over….

Or is it?  18-12, 18-13, 18-14. “Don’t let it get to you,” somebody yells to Chui. Then D-J gets a net: 18-15. It’s become so quiet a camera whirring somewhere makes a noise like the wings of birds. 18-16. Now Chui fails to return serve. (Maybe it’s a special one Lee’s held in reserve for just such an occasion? Some in the audience have never seen one just like it.) 18-17. “Boy, what a fighter D-J is!” a guy next to me says.

After losing 6 points in a row, Ming’s in no hurry to serve. He turns and towels away from the table. Alex Tam, the former Mainland Chinese, newly arrived in Texas from Chui’s former Hong Kong, shouts, “Keep it to his backhand! Keep calm!” Lee says, “No coaching!” As Chui gets ready to serve, Lee says to the umpire, “Wipe the ball.” Then D-J misses a forehand. Then misses again. He throws up his hands. Smiles. “All you need is one more point!” someone yells to Chui. And he gets it.

“I can’t believe D-J is coming away with only $100,” says an onlooker. “It’ll be interesting to see how he takes this loss.” Lee shakes hands, then hurries from the playing area back to his equipment booth. He’s writing, writing, writing. It must be about where he’s gone wrong. But nobody asks him. Nobody goes over to buy anything.

Later, he calls Linda and she cries. Still later, a couple of nice, commiserating kids from Dallas named Hundman and Moody bring up a chest full of cold 6-packs to D-J’s hotel room and we all sit around talking and drinking for a while.

So then, strange as it seems, the matches on Sunday are going to take place without D-J. And without Lee’s Doubles partner, Pradit, too. Peter, having switched to inverted (he’s obviously not used to it), is beaten three straight in the quarter’s by this stranger Tam (whom of course readers of these volumes are familiar with as the former Chinese International Tan Cho-Lin who with his wife escaped from China via a daring swim to Hong Kong). John Tannehill is also gone, done in by Rich Farrell whom Haslam several months ago was critical of: “If only he concentrated more on the game, instead of living the high life that he does.” But though Farrell would win only the 1^st game from Park, he’d certainly had his head together back at the get-go, rallying as he did on being down 2-0 to that wily old champion Bukiet.

Another to fall early was Sweeris who, lucky to escape Miles at this summer’s Minnesota Classic, couldn’t escape him this time—just seemed unable to read his spin and too often put the ball up for Miles to pummel away. “Sweeris ought to take off for 6 months and practice his backhand,” says Dick. Both Dick and Dell, as well as others, were complaining about how the ball was immediately picking up paint from the tables, how after each match the ball would be heavier. Miles in particular was arguing that the balls ought to be changed after every game (compare tennis)—which thought ought to make any number of ball manufacturers happy.

In the last quarter’s match, Miles is up 20-18 in the 1^st against Jack Howard, but Jack spin-serves short and smacks in a bazooka of a backhand; spin-serves short and fires again; follows with a booming forehand; then spin-serves short again and blasts in the return. Amazing. Devastating.

In the 2^nd, Dick’s got Jack 20-17…18…19. But now Jack can’t win the point that would likely let him take the match. At the break, Dick, having played steady defense, having threatened always to hit in a forehand, is up 2 games to 1. “Where’s John Tannehill?” he says. And then to John on being found, “No coaching, understand? No coaching. But you’re my coach.” And John, smiling, says, “Only I would know what he means.” And that other John, too—Somael, World’s ago. Miles loses the 4^th, wins the 5^th. “Howard ought to take 6 months off and practice his forehand,” says Dick.

Now before I go to the round robin semi’s, I’ll give you the results of the other events. Women’s: Connie Sweeris over Angie Rosal, 18 in the 5^th. 3^rd Place: Judy Bochenski (from 2-1 down) over Olga Soltesz who’d eliminated Alice Green in 5. Men’s Doubles: Lee/Pradit –13, 21, 22, -21, 18 over Sweeris/Tannehill. Earlier, Dell and John, after losing the first two games, had rallied to defeat Park/Howard, 23-21 in the 5^th. Women’s Doubles: Rosal/Bochenski over Sweeris/Barbara Kaminsky. Mixed Doubles: Sweeris/Sweeris over Chui/Green in 5.

Other results: A’s: Richard Ling over Hanumanth Rao, 17 in the 5^th. B’s: Alan Nissen over Mac Baptiste. C’s: Perry Schwartzberg over Rene Rodriguez, deuce in the 5^th. A Doubles: John Tomlinson/Joe Cummings over D.G. Van Vooren/John McAdams. Men’s Consolation: Cummings over Brad Fountain, deuce in the 5^th. Women’s Consolation: Shirley Woo over Cindy Garza. Senior’s: Bernie Bukiet over Tim Boggan. Under 17: Octavio Pinnell over Judy Bochenski, 22, -20, 17, 20. Under 15: Bev Hess over Schwartzberg. Under 13: Phil Pinnell over Murray. Under 17 Doubles: Bochenski/Rosal over Pinnell/Pinnell. Under 15 Doubles: Puls/Finnell over P. Pinnell/Levy, 18 in the 5^th.   

The Men’s semifinal round robin begins with 47-year-old Miles playing 22-year-old Chui (who’s hardly helped his game any by spotting people 18 points in his Waltham Club’s handicap tournaments). Ming is often trying to sock the ball hard, is not chiseling much off the wooden side of his racket because Miles isn’t bothered by it, can step in and whiplash away a winner. Also, Dick has come up with a quick sort of basement-lob counter of even Chui’s hardest hit. The match goes 5, but, with a 19-13 lead in the 5^th, Miles, continuing to show his stamina, wins comfortably.

            Now Park plays the 29-year-old Tam, a University of Texas (at Austin) Phys. Ed. major, who’s just begun taking an intensive English language course there. He of course is the subject of much speculation. “I heard he was 3^rd in Red China,” says a big Texan with laminated red, white, and blue star-spangled shoes. “Well,” says another, “I know for sure he was a world-class player in ’61. “He’s originally from Canton,” says a man, a Mr, Chien, I believe, who seems to be the spokesman for Tam. “But in Peking he was on the equivalent of the #2 Chinese team. From 1959-65, he was Chuang Tse-tung’s sparring partner, lived in the same dormitory with him.”

            The Park-Tam match has gone into the 5^th. “Tam has a marvelous little topspin serve,” says Park. But Gil himself has a very good backhand spin serve that he follows with a looping forehand. Tam, down 18-12 in the 5^th, has pulled up even, has nervously run his hand through his hair, and is calming himself to serve.

            And—wow!—what a serve. The ball slides right off Park’s paddle, hits the table before it even gets to the net. Park quickly protests, shows the umpire his racket. There is a little wet spot there. But the ball is dry. So Tam couldn’t have worked the old wet ball trick, could he? Maybe the wet spot comes from Park’s perspiration? Jack Howard, the Tournament Referee is appealed to. Perhaps he feels, as some spectators, some good players do, that both Park and Tam have been using illegal serves—that Park serves out of his hand and Tam is hitting the ball on the way up. Perhaps he know that, by the end of the 5^th game, the ball is so green that it can slide rather than give a true bounce.

            Jack rules that the point must be played over. Perhaps Tam is thinking that Park is Howard’s doubles partner this tournament, for, unable to speak the language, to argue in his own behalf, and with a kind of anguish on his face urging an appeal—there is, after all, a $1,000 1^st Prize—he calls for Miles, whom he instinctively feels is the fairest person on the scene. But Dick can’t help him—only Tam can help himself. And with the crowd, more and more convinced of his innocence, wildly cheering him on, he makes three absolutely perfect kills to take the game and the match.

              Now it’s Miles and Tam, and with Dick primarily chopping and Tam, not used to the spin, hitting erringly away, no wonder the score is 16-7 Miles. Suddenly, though, Tam reverses himself, begins chiseling. And he’s good at it—climbs to 17-19. But then Miles hits one in and in a moment the first game is over. They trade off the next two. In the 4^th, Miles is down 6-0, too much to overcome. In the 5^th, the grim, lean-faced Tam, catches Dick on two serves and murders in a low ball that helps him to a 15-11 lead. Since each player scores 6 more points, Dick comes up short.

            Against Chui, Park, with some gorgeous serves, wins the first two games. Ming isn’t getting a chance to crack forehands, but in the 3^rd he’s starting to swat in some backhands. And later he’s wood-chopping 3 and 4 balls in succession that Park can’t seem to get to stay on his racket. Though Lim has had trouble with Park’s different kinds of loops, particularly the slow ones that he’s tried to block and has returned the ball much too high, he turns the match around and wins convincingly in 5. 

            Though Miles now loses to Park, 3-0, as he did at Redondo Beach, he’s not overly impressed with Gil’s game. Park has a big weakness in not having a very good put away, says Dick. He says he can hit Gil’s ball, says that it comes back high, but that when it comes down the center he can’t see it. Says that the white lines of the table ought to be painted yellow. Later, he’ll be a proponent of the orange ball?

            The last match is Tam vs. Chui. If Chui wins, they’ll each have one loss, and the tie will be broken via their head-to-head results—meaning Ming will take the 1^st Prize. Somebody says, “Tam’s gonna have problems with Chui’s ‘dead’ ball.” And in the beginning it looks like maybe he’s right. Tam loses the 1^st at deuce—throws his racket high into the air. “I’ve never seen a Chinese do that,” says a veteran aficionado. In the 2^nd, Chui seems to be standing too flat-footed, isn’t moving sideways, is holding himself much too upright. Match 1-1. In the 3^rd, Tam gets off to a 9-1 lead. In the 4^th, Ming can’t get more than 17. The $1,000 is Tam’s, and he deserves it.

            “This Tam’s a real competitor,” I hear a Texan say. “He’ll be good for American table tennis.”

            Tournament Promoter Marianne Szalay had written in her Program address that hosting a tournament like this “is not just a challenge…but sort of a gamble also. Gamble on people, friends, promises and words….The important thing is that we keep moving and that we change our situation instead of giving up and that we must believe in miracles.” Maybe before the tournament started, she knew something we didn’t? But if she gambled, she lost. And there were no miracles.

Marianne couldn’t come up with the prize money—and Tam, Chui, Park, and Connie Sweeris and perhaps others continued to complain until finally, after respecting Marianne’s wishes to keep the matter private, I, as President, “finally had to take action on what couldn’t be kept quiet any longer, was, indeed already out in the open.” On Dec. 20, 1972, I sent Marianne a letter making the Association’s position clear. Given her service to the Sport (six weeks earlier, the appreciative President of the Mexican Federation, Dr. Helios Farrell, had congratulated the USTTA for “having persons like Marianne Szalay”), I was as gentle as possible, perhaps too gentle. Here’s an excerpt:

 

“…The E.C. feels very strongly that the players in question must be paid in full—in cash—and that ultimately you’re responsible.

The E.C. also has nothing but praise for you personally—and all of us feel certain that unusual circumstances, which none of us know, must have trapped you into this embarrassing position. You spoke, for instance, of a sponsor reneging—which I gather might be the City of Houston or Holiday Inn—and of course if there’s anything we can do to exert any pressure, please let us know. Or it may be that your own wishes, hopes, ideals trapped you—as so often they do many people. At any event, understand that we have nothing but good feelings towards you and that naturally we want to give you something of a free hand in doing what you think best.

                        Here is what the E.C. proposes.

                        That the USTTA pay the outstanding $2750 to the players.

            That you yourself sell the stock you are offering the players and present that money to the USTTA as a down payment.

That you find ways to pay the remainder back to the USTTA—at, say, $25 a month, if need be.

Please keep in mind that we all want to help you in any way we can, with exhibitions, clinics, tournaments. Miles, for instance, will be in Houston on Feb.3 in connection with some big sports show and offers his services free—that is, he’s ready to do a clinic, or exhibition, whatever you want that will help you raise some money….”                                                         

 

Oklahoma, too, had its share of action. Ron Shirley writes (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1972, 4-5) that the 5^th Annual Oct. Southwestern Open had to be last-minute moved from Oklahoma City to Bartlesville, a town of only 30,000 but home to Phillips Petroleum. Ron says that after 60 phone calls apprising people of the change (“Can you still come?”), after some players had to drive an additional 150 miles or change their plane tickets to arrive in Tulsa rather than Oklahoma City, 120 entries made the tournament its usual success.

            A father/daughter combination caused quite a stir. The father, Bohdan “Bob” Dawidowicz, I’d learned, was a painter by trade who’d only recently come to the States from Poland where he reportedly was ranked #4. His daughter Kasia was in the 6^th grade in her Aurora school just outside Denver. It was said that last year in Poland, when she was 9 and smacking in forehands, she’d won the National Girls Under 15 Championship. Here in the States she’s being sponsored by Mr. Leo Stopa, and is doing just fine.   

            Results: Men’s: R.R. Semi’s: 1. Bohdan Dawidowicz. 2. David Bell. 3. Steve Hammond. 4. John Tomlinson who in the quarter’s 15, -13, -16, 22, 18 eliminated Jerry Plybon. Women’s: Peggy Shaha over Shirley Woo, deuce in the 4^th. Men’s Doubles: Plybon/Dawidowicz over Tomlinson/Joe Cummings. Women’s Doubles: Sue Sargent/Kasia Dawidowicz over Woo/Ann Ramsey. Mixed Doubles: Dawidowicz/Dawidowicz over Don Weems/Ramsey.

            Other winners: A’s: Tommy Vaello over Tomlinson. B’s: Ed Stein over Perry Schwartzberg. A Doubles: Vaello/Hibbs over Cummings/Tomlinson. B Doubles: Richard Puls/Larry Puls over Joe Windham/Larry Knouft, 17 in the 5th. Windham plays out of Kansas City where a 7-team Handicap League is going strong at the Knouft-managed open-every-day Club. Senior’s: Van Vooren over Al Engel. Boys U-17: Mark DaVee over Steve Hammond who’d won the Men’s at the Sept. Central Oklahoma Open. Boys U-15: Hammond over Dale Donaldson. U-13: Perry Schwartzberg over Kasia Dawidowicz. Junior Doubles: Hammond/Donaldson over Joe Windham/ Steve Dodgen.

            Windham, the winner of both the Men’s and the Junior’s at the Omaha Early Bird, was described by Tom Walsh (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1972, 19) as “a powerfully-built, strong young man” who’s been “well-coached in most respects by Herb Conner over the years, more recently by Larry Knouft.” He’s said to practice “four hours every day” (double the time of the average avid U.S. player). Here in Omaha he hit through runner-up Scotty Grafton (a former Nebraska State Champion), Dave Barnes, and Murray Kutler, U-17 finalist. In mid-August, Joe gave an exhibition at the Kansas State Prison in Lansing that was much appreciated by the inmates. Also, Bob Campbell reports that the K.C/ Mid-Town Club has started a t.t. show on a restricted Cable TV station. It “includes 15 minutes of instruction, and a King-of-the-Hill match.”

Diana Myers of course won the Women’s and Girl’s, but Kathy Moeller upset Girl’s runner-up Debbie Denenberg to take 2^nd in the Women’s. Debbie had her moments, though, when she and Walsh surprised Grafton/Myers to win the Mixed. Todd Petersen (son of Wisner, Nebraska promoter Leroy Petersen) was impressive—he won the U-11’s over Bill Pardew, the U-13’s over Jeff Moeller, and the Novice over Topics Crossword-Puzzle solver Jim Lynum. 

            The Kansas City Mid-Town TTA (that’s on the Missouri side) opened Oct. by holding its first tournament, the $325 Kaw Valley Open. Men’s R.R. semi’s: 1. Minneapolis student Aki Nakamura ($150). 2. Steve Hammond ($75). 3. Rich Sinykin ($50). 4. Jerry Plybon ($25). Women’s: Myers over Shaha. Men’s Doubles: Nakamura/Don Larson over Jerry Plybon/Gillies. Mixed Doubles: Doug Maday/Denenberg over Plybon/Myers. A’s: Maday over Sinykin. B’s: Plybon over Gus Kennedy. C’s: John Soderberg over Pat Windham.

            Chicago ran a number of fall tournaments—almost all of them involving local players, the favorites in the various events vying month after month among themselves for the titles. Spectator players, were they so inclined, could get a schedule of the proposed tournaments, then set up various kinds of Calcuttas for their man in any one tournament or set of tournaments. Favored combatants in the various events would likely be (in alphabetical order): Men’s and Mixed Doubles: Jim Davey, Waidi Dawodu, Jerry Karlbulka, Jim Lazarus, Leonard McNeece, and Paul Pashuku. Women’s: Darlene Friedman and Barbara Taschner. A’s and B’s: Dr. Asokan (who’s originally from Ceylon), Davey, Emmanuel King, McNeece, Mike Menzer, Pashuku, Hugh Shorey, and Karl Will. C’s: Bruce Ackerman, Jerry Aleknus, Joe Bujalski, Mike Carter, and Laszlo Keves. Senior’s: Bujalski, Norm Schless, and Frank Tharaldson. Junior’s: Andy Cieslarski, Don Kindstrand, Wayne Wasielewski, and Robert Wright.

Cieslarski says in a Letter to the Editor (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1973, 24) that he goes to classes at his high school until noon, then coaches a grammar school basketball team, then goes to his Chicago club to practice t.t. for 5 hours or so. To keep paying his club and tournament fees, he needs about $50 a month, and is looking for a patron, so far unsuccessfully. Can you help him? Aberdeen, Md. Club member Joe Lee, juggling job, wife, kids, responds waspishly (TTT, May-June, 1973, 6)—says he’d like to give it all up, just practice his table tennis, pursue his dream of being something more than a C player. But he, too, has financial problems. Can anyone help him out?

            The Grand Rapids Furniture City Open came just before the crucial Dec.Tryouts for the Sarajevo World Team, and though Danny Seemiller had been training diligently with Dell Sweeris, one couldn’t be sure from the results of this tournament just how ready Danny was. In the Team event, though Seemiller/Veillette beat Sweeris/Smart, 3-2, they had quite a struggle—with Mike defeating Jeff, 27, 18 and Danny/Mike having to work hard to take the doubles, -19, 18, 19. Worse, though Danny beat Jeff handily, he –10, -12 wasn’t in the match at all against Sweeris who had to go 3 to beat Veillette. And yet in the Singles final Danny 17, 12, 17 downed Dell with ease. 

Ohio’s Tim O’Grosky won the Nov. 18-19 Gem City Open at Dayton. In the final, he beat Dick Hicks who’d had to go 5 with Mark Wampler, who’d had to go 5 with John Spencer. Women’s went to Mary Ann Burdick over Kathy DeMent. Hicks/Dick Evans won the Men’s Doubles over John Spencer/Wampler in 5, then O’Grosky/Lyle Thiem in 4. Best in Mixed: Greg Doud/Burdick (after being 2-0 down) over Thiem/Diane Turnbull. Girls U-17: Burdick over Jodee Williams. U-13’s: Jodee’s brother Jeff over Greg Collins. Non-Winner: Marv Pollack, who was very much disturbed by spectators and players “talking loud and continuously” while matches were going on. After he and the Dayton officials had pleaded with the offenders to cool it, and they didn’t, Marv and his son just up and left.

We now come to the mid-Oct. U.S.A. Capital Open—played, like the well-attended Jan. Eastern’s, at the Parkdale Gym in Riverdale, MD. Once Bob Kaminsky gets behind a tournament, it’s gonna be a production. So, sure, why not have a U.S. vs. Canada Match to hype the tournament? And so bring in paying spectators that will help raise money for our ’73 U.S. World Team? Why not have an informative Program for those spectators? Capital ideas, to be sure. Except that, as North Carolina TTC Vice-President Don Greenberg tells us (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1972, 1+), the hoped-for audience turned out to be practically non-existent:

 

“…It could be the Parkdale football game drew them away on Saturday. After all, the team was undefeated and playing the 2^nd-ranked local team. The World Series was competing against us that weekend. Also, don’t forget professional football on TV. And would you believe Indian Summer-type weather? The fact that we had any audience was truly amazing.”

 

            As for the U.S. vs. Canada Match, I’ve “Ping” Neuberger’s Oct. 14 Report on the Women’s play, but nothing from Tibor Hazi on the Men’s. Leah said that when our International Chair Kaminsky called her and asked her to be the Captain of the Women’s

Team she got all excited. She thought he meant to the World’s. Since in the CNE Canada Match, Alice Green played in the Singles and Barbara Kaminsky in the Doubles, they would reverse roles here—though, after Alice had expressed a preference for again playing in the Singles, she didn’t show for the Team Match.

            What would Miss Ping wear? After some discussion, she decided on “a royal blue pants suit with red, white and blue trim on the collar and the same trim down the front.” To accompany that, she said, “ I wore red, white & blue shoes and 3 different kinds of red, white, and blue rings.”

            So whether her players were ready or not, she was. John Nesukaitis was the Canadian Captain. His daughter Gloria carried the Canadian flag; Muriel Stern, the American flag. Walter Keim made lengthy player introductions.

            Barbara Kaminsky opened against Flora Nesukaitis and won-18, 18, 8. Violetta then stopped Connie Sweeris, 13, 13. But our U.S. pair prevailed against the Canadians in the doubles, 18 in the 3^rd. Violetta then annihilated Barbara 8, 6. In the 1^st game of the deciding match Connie was down 0-6 to Flora, but went on to win both games 12, 8 easily.

            Leah said that the winning American men (they beat Canada 5-0) received watches; the losing Canadian men medals. Barbara and Connie got “beautiful silver trays (donated by the Landover Mall),” and, though Captains to the CNE weren’t given anything, nor were they here, since Alice didn’t show, “they grudgingly gave me the extra silver tray.”

            Alice did play in the Singles where, after beating Xuan Ferguson (Women’s A winner over Yvonne Kronlage) and Connie Sweeris in straight games, she fought gamely to the end, going down deuce in the 3^rd to Violetta. The U.S. women, however, had their compensations. Barbara and Connie took the Women’s Doubles in 5 from the Nesukaitis sisters, 18 in the 5^th. And Connie teamed with Dell to take the Doubles from Violetta/Errol Caetano, -21, 20, 20, 16. Miss Ping, too, was a winner—adding, courtesy of Miss Stern, the Women’s Consolation trophy to her seemingly never-ending collection.

            In the Men’s Singles, word of Lee’s loss to Chui the week before, raised the question of whether he’d be beaten here. It certainly seemed he might be, for in the semi’s he’s down 2-0 to Errol Resek. Then, after fighting back—really fighting, for he’s had to have suffered a severe psychic wound in no longer having an undefeated record to hold taut to—D-J’s down 12-9 in the 5^th. But now Errol twice mis-serves, and has lost not just the points but apparently his confidence, and is outscored two to one in what remains of his challenge. In the final, D-J is faced with John Tannehill, and the law of averages says that sooner or later John’s going to win. And, yes, up 2-1 and 8-2 in the 4^th, it looks as if he’ll be the first native-born player to beat D-J. But then what happens? An incredible reversal—Lee’s suddenly up 10-9, wins it at 14 without a sweat. Then in the 5^th takes an insurmountable 14-6…17-8 lead. Next time, John?

            Other results: Men’s Doubles: Caetano/Gonda over Tannehill/Sweeris. A’s: Danny Seemiller over Vic Landau. A Doubles: Dan Seemiller/Jerry Fleischhacker over Mike Clarke/Winston “Bobby” Cousins. B’s: Cousins over Eugene Kunyo. Esquire’s: Tibor Hazi over Jim Verta. Senior’s: Hazi over a condescending then startled Tim Boggan, deuce in the 5^th. Senior Doubles: Hazi/Bukiet over Boggan/Mort Zakarin. Boys Under 17: Rick Rumble over Rick Seemiller. Girls Under 17: Joanna Santana over Stern. Under 17 Doubles: Timmy House/Scott Boggan over Scott McDowell/Jeff Zakarin. Boys Under 15: House over Jeff Zakarin in 5. Girls Under 15: Gloria Nesukaitis over Santana. Under 13 Singles: Mike Stern over Scott Boggan. Girls Under 13: Gloria Nesukaitis over Shellie Gainsburg. Under 13 Doubles: Scott Boggan/Stern over Eric Boggan/Chuck Zakarin. Under 11: Gloria Nesukaitis over Curt Kronlage.

              Bob Kaminsky and Yvonne Kronlage ask Mal Anderson “to take photos of several celebrities awarding the trophies, especially their Congressman.” While he’s at it, Mal takes one of himself. He thinks it goes well with an article he wrote called “Tournaments Are Fun.” Yes, that’s a little boa—but it’s very real, and were I to handle it, my breath would constrict whether it wrapped itself around me or not.