CHAPTER ONE
1973:
First World University Championships. 1973: Norwich Union International. 1973:
Commonwealth Championships. 1973: Allan Herskovich Arranges European Tour for
San Francisco Group.
Readers will recall I’d finished Vol. VI (1970-73) with an account of the Dec., 1972 U.S. World Team Tryouts outside Chicago and then the Apr., 1973 World Championships at Sarajevo. But it wasn’t only players via an official USTTA Selection process that had begun representing our country abroad. As we’d seen in 1971 a group of predominately Michigan boys and girls, with Dell Sweeris as Captain/Coach, participated in the English Junior Open.
USTTA Corresponding Secretary Mort Zakarin (TTT, March-April, 1973, 32) didn’t object to these Juniors playing in that tournament, for they’d raised their own funds, but he felt they shouldn’t have represented themselves as a USA team, they should have called themselves Michigan. This suggested name, however, wasn’t practical, for among the players who went to Canterbury were Elsie Spinning of Oregon, Angelita Rosal of California, and Danny Seemiller of Pennsylvania. Further, since all the other entries in this English Junior Open were from countries, the sponsors undoubtedly would have considered this a USA team.
Mort’s point that the U.S. should always be represented abroad by our proven best players is an ideal one, for it demands the needed wherewithal (time, effort, and expense) on the part of the Association to foster such teams. Such help has been, is now, and will continue to be often difficult to come by. Meanwhile, the alternative—not allowing players (recognized, willy-nilly, as representing the “U.S.”) who are prepared to go abroad or who are already in the proximity of an overseas tournament, to be part of the playing/learning experience, the excitement—is again not practical.
Mort’s decision to put forward his view in print was precipitated, not by the Junior Team that went to England, which after all was composed of quite a few of our best and most interested young players, but of the rather hastily put together U.S. Team that represented us at the Feb. 20-25, 1973 World University Games in Hannover, Germany. Rufford Harrison (TTT, March-April, 1973, 4) rather last minute “heard about the event from the German TTA magazine,” and on investigating found that, were players interested, they had “to work through the United States Collegiate Sports Council” which had neglected to inform the USTTA about the tournament because the USCSC itself had no funds. However, as readers of Vol. VI know, a number of U.S. players were no longer thinking parochially and had the get-up-and-go to want to be where the “real” table tennis action was. So a seven-member Team, with everyone paying his/her own way, received the Association’s blessing. Jack Wiener tells us (TTT, March-April, 1973, 32), that Rufford served as a liaison figure, and that uniforms were provided by the USTTA. For Jack and the others who took the initiative to go to Hannover it was, as anyone would expect, a memorable experience.
Jerry Fleischhacker penned the cover story for the March-April, 1973 issue of Topics, and though enough foreign players were in Hannover to make a world-class field, Mort needn’t have worried—the U.S. didn’t embarrass itself.
The format for the Men’s Team split the countries “into eight groups, each having two or three teams. The winners would play in the first division, the second place teams in the second. The third place teams were out. Each of the two divisions would be split into two even groups of four with the winners meeting for the championship.”
Czechoslovakia, led by Kunz who in the Sarajevo Swaythling Cup matches would beat both Surbek and Stipancic, killed us of course, 5-0—with 1971 U.S. Junior Champion Bill Lesner, Fleischhacker, and Wiener unable to get more than 12 points in any game.
Canada was our big tie—get 5 singles matches from them and we’d continue to play. Jerry got us off to a great start—rallied to take down Paul Braithwaite, -14, 21, 15. Jeff gave 4-time Canadian Champ Larry Lee an initial scare, but was beaten 19, -14, -16; Fleischhacker 17, 21 fell to Lee as well. But Lesner had easy wins over Ricky Cheung and Braithwaite, and when Smart finished off Cheung 20, 15, the U.S., up 4-2, was lookin’ good. But then Lee –10, 18, 18 came back against Lesner, and Cheung won, –18, 25, 12, from an “overconfident” Fleischhacker who had 8 match points on him! In the tie-decider against Brathwaite, Jeff lost the 1st 22-20. So, whoa, what had happened to the U.S. lead? But Smart, smartly resilient, took the life-saving last two games 15 and 11.
In their remaining four ties (with Greg Gingold now playing in two of them), the U.S. men split. They’re stopped by Luxembourg 5-2 (Lesner defeats Andre Hartmann, who’ll play in Sarajevo, but loses to their #1 Jean Krier who’ll beat England’s Des Douglas at the upcoming World’s). Then, tired, we’ll also go down to Italy—5-1. However, we blitzed Cambodia (who sent a team here but not to Sarajevo), and knocked off Israel, 5-2. So we finish a respectable 12th.
Meantime, there are interesting matches among the 1st division title-contending teams. Czechoslovakia—with their mainstay Kunz, World #21 after Sarajevo, winning 3—rallies from 2-4 down to edge France, led by Patrick Birocheau. Romania, with their Sarajevo twosome of Serban Dobosi and Teodor Gheorghe (as I write, the USATT’s Executive Director!), is beaten 5-3 by Yugoslavia. But Gheorghe, though losing to defensive star Bela Mesaros, conqueror of our Danny Seemiller in Sarajevo, downs both World #26 Milivoj Karakasevic and Zlatko Cordas whom we’re about to see visiting the U.S. Despite Kunz’s 3 wins, the Bronze was taken not by the Czechs but by the Germans (Klaus Schmittinger, Hans Deutz, and Jochen Leiss, winner of our 1977 U.S. Open).
The Team final went, 5-2, to the USSR (fielding its top 3 players: World #7 Sarkis Sarkhayan, World #12 Stanislav Gomozkov, and World #30 Anatoly Strokatov) over Yugoslavia (missing its top 3 players, Surbek, Stipancic, and Korpa). Fleischhacker is impressed by Karakasevic’s 4, 19 win over 1971 European Youth Champ Strokatov. “With what force Karakasevic blocks and how fast he moves around,” says Jerry. “Alice Green called him a ‘grasshopper.’” Also noteworthy is Cordas’s –11, 16, 20 comeback against Gomozkov “(nicknamed in the German papers a ‘teddy bear’).” But then, after Sarkhayan outlasts Karakasevic deuce in the 3rd “to finish as the only undefeated player” in the Team’s, the Russians are convincing winners.
In the 9-team Women’s ties, the field is split into two groups, “with the winners meeting for the championship.” The U.S. (Alice Green, Janice Martin) opens their Davis Cup-style play against Czechoslovakia—and Alice surprises everyone by downing in 3 the Czech #7 Helena Pauknerova. But, oh, Alicia Grofova’s playing, and she’ll be the World runner-up at Sarajevo! So forget about winning this one—we lose 3-1.
How about France, can we beat them? Probably not. Yveline Lecler, who’s on their World team, and who’ll win the Women’s Consolation here (over Great Britain’s Elaine Smith), is too strong for Janice. And their #1 Claude Bergeret is—a surprise! “For the last four years,” says Jerry, “Alice has been corresponding with a ‘little’ French girl named Claude, whom she met in Munich in 1969. But only about a week before the tournament did she realize that Claude is Claude Bergeret….By the way, she is not a little girl in more ways than one, as most of the men in the tournament would bear witness to.”
Bergeret, who was beaten in the ’71 World’s by our ‘72 National Champion Wendy Hicks, wins the 1st against Alice. But then “seems to be bothered when Alice starts hitting Claude’s loop instead of blocking it. This is very effective because of Alice’s racket—a Hock 3-ply blade with pimpled sponge which was looked at with astonishment by most other countries in the tournament.” Alice wins the 2nd—after which Bergeret “changes her strategy, starts to push more instead of looping,” and takes the 3rd easily. “In the doubles, Janice and Alice complement each other beautifully as Janice repeatedly scores with her hard smash after Alice sets her up.” But though they win the 1st game at deuce, they can’t win another.
The Soviets of course are too formidable—though Alice does take the opening game from their former Champion Rita Pogosova who at Sarajevo will oust Sweden’s Ann-Christin Hellman, later the losing finalist in our 1975 U.S. Open.
Canada—there’s our chance? Yep, we win 3-1 over Shirley Gero, Darinka Jovanov—though Shirley unexpectedly beats Janice.
Only Lena Andersson of the Swedes here in Hannover will be on their roster in Sarajevo, but they’re too strong for us too…though not by much, for we take the doubles and Alice loses both singles in 3, including a killer deuce in the 3rd to Kerstin Johansson. So, though we might have finished 7th, we end up 8th. No disgrace in this either.
In the competition for the Women’s Team title, the Czechs reach the final with a 3-1 victory over France. Grofova beats Bergeret 22-20 in the 3rd to clinch the win. Who advances from the other side? Germany, 3-1, over Romania—when World #25 Wiebke Hendriksen stands tall over both the Romanian #2 Eleonora Vlaicov and the #3 Carmen Crisan (in 1969 World #13), and also contributes to a deuce in the 3rd doubles win. Romania then loses the Bronze to the Soviets.
In the final, though Grofova takes her two singles, the Germans again prevail in the doubles to score a popular 3-2 win.
Now a free day—wanna go for a spin? Take a drive? Come visit the VW factory—maybe they’ll let you get behind the wheel, cruise a little…or pretend to.
In the Men’s Singles, the U.S. provides no surprises. Gingold’s “laser” loop will have no effect on Kunz; nor in the Consolation’s on Belgium’s Marcel Lambiotte. Jerry praises Wiener for playing “a lot of great points” in losing to Dobosi 14, 9, 15, and attributes his straight-game loss to Canada’s Chung in the Consolation’s to lack of sleep. What the hell has Jack been doing nights if he isn’t sleeping? Hah, read his article. “Make friends,” he says; “mingle” every chance you can, and explore that “explosive motivation to become better acquainted.”
Fleischhacker, after winning the 1st but stalling out at deuce in the 2nd, plays, as he says, “probably the best match of my life” in losing in 4 to Belgian World Team member Frans Bekaert, then is blanked in the Consolation’s by Great Britain’s lefty Tony Clayton, 1971 English Closed runner-up. Tony will win the Men’s Consolation here over Austria’s Heinz Schluter who in beating Clayton teammate Trevor Taylor in a Swaythling Cup match in Sarajevo will prove to be such a bad loss for England, not to say the apparently unconcerned Taylor, that the ETTA will send their man packing. This after Trevor had just won the Commonwealth Singles again and the Doubles with Denis Neale.
Smart has an easy triumph over a hapless Cambodian, then falls to Poland’s Marek Skibinski. Canada’s Larry Lee, who’d been eliminated by Russia’s Viktor Fursov, straight-game downed Jeff in the Consolation’s. Lesner bombed into ruin an Irishman, then was badly beaten by Germany’s Rolf Jager. In the Consolation’s, Bill met Turkish International Mahmut Tezcan, who’d forced Leiss into the 5th, and, playing “probably the best” Jerry’s ever seen him play, won 21, 20, 18. Then, as in the Team’s, Lesner will lose to Luxembourg’s Krier (he’d be “top 5” in the U.S. says Jerry)—after Bill had won the 3rd game at deuce to go up 2-1.
In quarter’s play among the Men’s Singles contenders, it was Gomozkov over Cordas, 14, 20, 19; Strokatov over Karakasevic, 18, -11, 8, 19; Sarkhayan over Schmittinger, -18, 19, -15, 16, 17; and Kunz, “who doesn’t look great himself, but makes everybody else look bad,” over Leiss, giving up only 38 points after losing the 1st. In the semi’s, “Sarkhayan blows a 2:0 and 15:7 lead but finally beats Strokatov,” 11, 20, -19, 13. As for Kunz, he’s able “to block back Gomozkov’s lightning-like backhand,” plus his backhand return of serve with pimpled sponge gives the Russian fits. Kunz is the winner, 19 in the 5th. In the final, Sarkhayan “explores a weakness in Kunz’s forehand exchange” and wins handily. Jerry is very impressed with this ‘73 Russian National Champion’s all-around steady game—and so he should be, for Sarkhayan did the hat trick here: won the Men’s Doubles with Gomozkov (over Leiss/Schmittinger), and the Mixed with Pogosova (over Gomozkov/Rudnova). Jerry warns, “He could be a surprise in Sarajevo.” And he will do well there—reach the quarter’s before losing to Sweden’s Kjell Johansson.
With regard to the U.S. women, Janice lost to Great Britain’s Sheila Hamilton in 4, dropping a key 19 3rd game, then in the Consolation’s was surely not at her best, getting 29 points-annihilated by Germany’s Renate Neubaumer. Alice’s match with Germany’s Hendriksen, “a defensive player with anti-topspin sponge on the backhand,” Jerry speaks of in some detail:
“After the first couple of points, Alice was obviously playing for the expedite rule. The German, who beat Maria Alexandru a few weeks ago [Alexandru 10 years earlier was the World Women’s Singles runner-up, and in Sarajevo will win her 2nd World Women’s Doubles Championship], was unsuccessful in her pick shot—often Alice counter-drove in winners. At 19-17 Hendriksen, Alice, who didn’t know there was less than two minutes left, tried a forehand, which missed, and she quickly lost the game.
The second game followed pretty much the same pattern—but the rule finally came in with Alice down 16-18. And despite a couple of bad breaks Alice won it, 22-20. By now this was the only match going and several worried German coaches arrived on the scene.
The third game was very tight all the way. Hendriksen, up 21-20, got an edge to win it. After the break, the German girl, supported by a home audience, took a 4-point lead—but Alice fought back, went ahead 15-14. But then Hendriksen ran it out—and finished our hopes.”
In the quarter’s, Hendriksen had an easy time with Russian World Team member Asta Gedraitite, winner of the Women’s Doubles with Rudnova; Grofova murdered Vlaicov; Russia’s 1970 and 72 European Champion Zoya Rudnova rallied from 2-1 down to beat Bergeret; and Pogosova also came back from 2-1 down to defeat Crisan. Jerry closed his article by emphasizing that the final was “the most exciting match of the tournament”:
“Grofova, who used anti-topspin on the backhand, could viciously angle the exchange to both sides and her unusual put away was very effective. In the 5th game, Rudnova came all the way from 13-20 to 19-20, but Grofova hit in one to win, 11-21, 21-11, 21-14, 19-21, 21-19. And the crowd that was on her side from the beginning went wild with approval.”
Wild with approval, too, should our USTTA E.C. be for supporting this group. Even from afar, reading Fleischhacker’s article, you could sense this Team’s intense spirit, their camaraderie.
Another U.S. player, Long Island’s Cosmo Graham, was going to school in London where he’d joined two leagues. Establish leagues, he told U.S. readers (TTT, March-April, 1973, 6)—that was the way to go. But he also said that in the U.S. there weren’t enough clustered clubs in any given area to field teams, so we had to have more clubs to have successful leagues. He makes other comparisons between the two countries:
“The main difference between the English standard and the U.S. is that England has 3 or 4 players who are much better and there are many more players who would be quite good ‘A’ players in the U.S. Another good thing is that the E.T.T.A. has a permanent office and a phone number. Also we should follow their example and print the tournament schedule for the entire year at the beginning of the season. [Ah, but we can’t get all the many pockets in our vast U.S. to be so organized as to know ahead of time if and when they’ll be running a tournament.]”
Rufford Harrison informs us that Geoff Harrower has died. He says that Geoff was “possibly the best known of England’s table tennis reporters—and England [where Rufford is from] is a country where one can make a living writing about table tennis.”
Topics’ English correspondent, the Barna biographer Phil Reid, reports (March-April, 1973, 6) on the English Junior Closed. In the Boys, it was Des Douglas (he’d come from Jamaica “when he was four and now speaks with the broadest Birmingham accent imaginable”) over Don Parker, who’ll grow up to marry the current English #1, Jill (nee Shirley) Hammersley. In the Girls, the favorite, Linda Howard, was allowed to play despite the fact that the organizers hadn’t received her entry; they believed her when she said she’d sent it. Howard, who was to beat Judy Bochenski in the Women’s Singles at Sarajevo 19 in the 5th on an edge ball, won a match-point-down squeaker in the final here over Karen Rogers. Doubles went to Paul Day/Andy Barden; Mixed to Day/Elaine Tarten; Girls Doubles to Tarten/Gilliam Taylor.
At the Sarajevo World’s, New Yorker Shazzi Felstein will help with the Topics coverage by reporting on the Women’s Singles and Doubles. Afterwards, leisurely on her way for a flight connection in Paris, she’ll decide that, since the French had won the European Boys Team Championships, she’d stop in St. Die for a few hours to watch their Junior Closed. Observing (TTT, May-June, 1973, 36) that the best French “didn’t look noticeably better” than our U.S. best, she was struck by the fact that more than 250 selected kids were entered, all under 15 and accompanied by 100 officials/coaches—with of course all expenses paid. She closes with, “Will we ever see anything like this in the U.S.?”
Well, maybe not—but at least isolated Topics readers are becoming more aware of what world play is like. And, since Boggan dislikes parochialism, provincialism, and amateurism, that’s his USTTA Vision.
The English Open, which I’ve at times covered in earlier volumes, is now called, in deference to its sponsor, the Norwich Union International. Many of those entered in the 1973 field we’ll repeatedly see in the 1970’s in U.S. and Canadian tournaments. Phil Reid reports (TTT, May-June, 1973, 56-58) that on the very day the players are due to arrive and he to meet them, Feb. 28, there’s a train strike. But Phil manages to get out to Heathrow Airport, where a chartered bus will wait around to pick up all arrivals—Germans, Yugoslavs, Romanians, and Swedes—then take them, via suburban-London’s “chaotic road conditions,” down to Brighton. The year before at this tournament there was a postal strike, and the year before that a power strike—prompting Swedish Captain/Coach Christer Johansson to quip, “One thing the English are champions at is striking.” It was Christer, I might add, who first taught 10-year-old younger brother Kjell how to play. Hans Alser, Captain/Coach of the German Team, is more than inconvenienced—his wife is taken seriously ill and no sooner does he arrive than he has to leave. Poor Alser—he’d have bad luck at Sarajevo too: after that kidney attack he’d be taken away from the Hall in an ambulance and flown to a urological clinic in Frankfurt.
Some early results in the Men’s Team ties saw Denmark’s National Champion Niels Ramberg and about-to-be ranked World #44 Claus Pedersen down favored Hungary’s Peter Roszas and Matyas Beleznai. The English then stopped the Danes—though Pederson was able to hit through both World #23 Denis Neale and Trevor Taylor who, as the National Champion, last year made about 1500 pounds total, most of which came “from a summer coaching job at a large holiday camp.” England’s 17-year-old Desmond Douglas upset Kjell Johansson, but not Stellan Bengtsson. The Swedes then advanced to the final over the French and the Czechs.
Meanwhile, in a well-played semi’s tie, Yugoslavia, coached by Dusan “Dule” Osmanajic, was gaining the final over England. Taylor, however, scored a stunning win over Dragutin Surbek. “Possessing virtually no backhand, he [Surbek] covers an enormous amount of ground and the result is some very spectacular results indeed. Nothing is given up for lost. Quite often Surbek returns balls he has no right to even reach and some of his hitting—particularly when he’s yards away from the table—borders on the fantastic.” Taylor/Neale almost beat—they lost 19 in the 3rd—one of the best Doubles teams in the world, Surbek/Anton Stipancic. In the final tie, Surbek’s “incredible will-power” allowed him to best Bengtsson in 3. But that was it for Yugoslavia.
In one Women’s Team semi’s, it was Sweden, with Birgitta Radberg defeating Europe #5 Ilona Vostova, over Czechoslovakia, 3-0. In the other, thanks particularly to “slightly-built Londoner” Karenza Mathews’ win over Maria Alexandru, England defeated Romania. In the final, Radberg was too strong for both Mathews and Jill Hammersley, so Sweden’s women matched the Men’s win.
In Men’s Singles, England’s Chester Barnes took Johansson to 25-23 in the 4th, and Douglas (though losing the 3rd at 19 after rallying from 12-20 down) went on to 23-21 in the 4th avenge Pederson’s earlier Team wins over Neale and Taylor. There was a big upset in the making when French lefthander Christian Martin, “retrieving well on both wings and picking out the odd winner,” led Bengtsson 9-5 in the 5th. Question: would Martin keep his momentum, make it 10-5 at the turn? Answer: talk about momentum, the Swede won 13 points in a row. Then, while Neale was being eliminated by Beleznai, Bengtsson quickly dispatched Douglas.
In subsequent play, Stipancic was more than a match for French Champion Secretin. But in the semi’s, he “crumbled” against Bengtsson. Johansson, “too consistent for the enthusiastic Surbek,” also advanced to the final. The Swedes mainly engaged in hit and counter-hit play, but Bengtsson, in winning 3-1 (as he would at Sundsvall in the Swedish National’s), impressed everyone with “his quite remarkable footwork.” Reid says the young Swede’s play “has a sort of golden quality” to it—“should be measured in carats, not points.”
In Women’s Singles, two most notable results were defender Alexandru’s devastating attack against the French #1 Claude Bergeret; and Sweden’s Lena Andersson’s 5-game win over England’s Hammersley. In the final it was Radberg against
Alexandru who’d won this Open the last 3 years. The fact that she was looking to be the first woman to make it 4 in a row prompted Reid to make the following observations:
“The crowd, I suspect, was rather anxious to see a new name on the trophy. Because, let’s face it, Mrs. Alexandru is not to some people the most attractive player in the world to watch. To me she is a wonderful player. Dedicated, loyal to her team, a fight to the end, and a charming person off the table. On the tables she is dour, determined, one of the ‘Thou Shalt Not Pass’ breed.”
With the match tied 1-1, and Alexandru leading 20-18 in the 3rd, she returned a ball that hit the side. Or at least that’s what everyone thought except Alexandru. In turn, she appealed to the umpire, her captain, and finally to her opponent. Reid thought she was trying to upset Radberg, and, whether this was true or not, the spectators were not happy when Alexandru won the next point. In the 4th, the Romanian, down 18-19 and the game very near to being expedited, “incurred the wrath of the crowd by leaving the table to speak to her captain, but was called back by the umpire.” Again Reid thought she had an ulterior motive—trying to delay the game to get the Rule in. Radberg, however, scored two more points and so they moved into the 5th. Here Radberg herself practiced some gamesmanship. Toward the end of the match, after every point, she went for her towel, and was not stopped by the umpire. So who won? Radberg.
In Men’s Doubles, Neale and Taylor did not have a hurried lunch, arrived back late for their match, and were scratched. Protests were made, a Jury Meeting was called, and, since the pair they were supposed to meet were already playing their next match, they were scratched the more. Someone said, “In no other country in the world would the host country’s top two players be scratched, but, then, in no other country in the world would the host country’s top two players be late enough to be scratched.” The final, between Bengtsson/Johansson and Surbek/Stipancic was won by the Swedes with Johansson repeatedly hammering in winners. The Women’s Doubles final, the only match in the event to go the full distance, was won by the Czechs Vostova/Miloslava Polackova over the Swedes Radberg/Andersson.
In the Mixed, England fared very well. Scottish International winner Tony Clayton and England’s #6 Susan Howard beat Sweden’s Vikstrom/Andersson; Taylor/Hammersley beat Surbek/Vlaicov; and Neale/Mathews, after downing Jiri Turai/Polackova, had an excellent win over 1973 World Mixed finalists Stipancic/Alexandru in 5. In the final, though, the English pair was outclassed by the Czechs Milan Orlowski/Vostova.
At the Cardiff, Wales Commonwealth Championships, England (Taylor, Neale, Douglas, Nicky Jarvis, Alan Hydes) was dominant—won the Men’s Team’s over India (Mir Khasim Ali, 1972 National Champ Niraj Bajaj, Jagannath) and the Women’s Team’s over Canada (the Nesukaitis sisters, Mariann Domonkos, Shirley Gero, with Adham Sharara as Captain). The tournament, however, was a milestone for Canada in that when Toronto’s Robert Simpson Company outfitted the team in “walking-out uniforms of red blazers, grey slacks and white turtle-neck sweaters,” it marked the “first time that a Canadian table tennis team has traveled dressed as a national team.”
Men’s Singles went to the English #1 Taylor over the English #2 Neale. Women’s Singles to the English #1 Hammersley over the English #2 Mathews. Violetta Nesukaitis was 3rd on the ’73 Commonwealth Classification List followed by (4th) New Zealand’s Yvonne Fogarty; (5th) Rupa Mukherjee (later Bannerjee), runner-up at the ’72 Indian National’s to Indu Puri, and (6th) Ethel Jacks, Nigeria’s ’73 Pan-African Champion.
In the 1972 New Zealand Championships, Fogarty had beaten 8-time Champion Neti Traill in a deuce-in-the-5th semi’s (a car accident has left Neti with a metal pin in her left leg inhibiting her mobility), then had lost in 5 to Defending Champion Anne Stonestreet, described by Doug Stewart as “a tiny little thing with a ferocious forehand.” Alan Tomlinson, 38, was the ‘72 195-entry Men’s Singles Champ for the 4th time—over Malaysian student Ling Nam Ming who’d ousted both 37-year-old hard-rubber stalwart John Armstrong deuce in the 5th and the 17-year-old titleholder Richard Lee.
India saw tours by both China (led by Chinese National’s 3rd-place finishers Chou Lan-sun in the Men’s and Cheng Yu-shan in the Women’s) and North Korea (led by 1971 World #23 Pak Sin Il in the Men’s and Cha Gwang Suk and Li Chang Suk in the Women’s). According to Stewart, the highlight for China during a quick trip in July, 1972 was visiting a sheep farm. (New Zealand has 20 sheep for every human being.) China wasn’t disposed to give away many matches, and North Korea, visiting Bombay, Jaipur, Calcutta, Cuttack, and Delhi in Jan. of 1973, didn’t allow a single opponent to reach any semi’s.
Mike Greene gives us (TTT, July-August, 1973, 16-17) an account of the 26-day European trip, including a stop to take in the World’s, that Allan Herskovich arranged for a San Francisco group that included: Allan, Mike and his wife Norma, Shonie Aki and his wife Ria, Azmy Ibrahim, Pat Crowley, Jeff Mason, and Jeff’s parents Jack and Kathryn. Jack, in a separate article, would thank the USTTA E.C. for including this group in the Sarajevo party the Americans gave, and would heap high praise on the former Yugoslav/Italian International Herskovich.
The San Francisco contingent showed togetherness in sporting a street uniform “of gray slacks, purple and gray turtle-neck sweaters, and burgundy blazers with a U.S.T.T.A. emblem on the pockets.” From Oakland they flew to Frankfurt, then took a train through the sun and snow of the beautiful Swiss country-side to Basel where they dined at the Tropic restaurant, famous for “its live snakes crawling around in wooden casings with glass tops, only five inches from the top of the tables.” Then they were off to Zurich where Allan’s sister lived.
Met there by representatives of the host club, they were soon “taken on an old-fashioned grand tour of the Lindt Chocolate Factory” where one U.S. player accidentally dropped a gift box of chocolates in the toilet. It cracked Mike up to see them floating there. He and Norma then went shopping, and bought what, do you think, there in Switzerland? A cuckoo clock. After dinner there was an International T.T. event, but the Americans’ “tired, tense, sluggish bodies” didn’t allow them to do too well—though Jeff and Azmy each won a match. Pennants were exchanged, the U.S. team was “presented with an engraved silver dish,” and each member received “an illustrated book of Zurich.”
Next stop: Milano, where at a Pizzeria/Restaurant some of the players drank wine, “much to their disadvantage” at the table tennis matches that followed. “The audience cheered for whoever played well”—which almost invariably wasn’t a San Franciscan. Italy #13 downed Jeff. But Mike played, as he says, “like I’ve never played before. My backhand kill shot just wouldn’t miss.” On winning this match he was “surrounded by Italian well-wishers.” Pat Crowley came close to winning—faltered after leading 16-9 in the 3rd. After the matches, Jeff and Mike went for a long walk, got lost, “talked with the girls on the corners” so that “10,000 lire became a private joke” among the group.
On to Zagreb, and from there only an hour and fifteen minute flight to Sarajevo. Except Sarajevo was snowed in. So, no alternative: an 8-hour train ride…but fortunately in a sleeper car. At the Sarajevo tournament site, “it took almost four hours to get registered”—not good. But, as he did in Nagoya, Mike will be able to shoot and sell reels of Team and Individual matches. “These films,” he said, “will be far better than the ’71 films because of the experience I’ve gained in filming since then.” After watching the Team matches, Mike and Norma “took a side trip to Greece and Rome” (arranged by Allan who reportedly spoke 7 languages). Then, following the completion of the tournament, the San Francisco group and Angie Rosal all went to Dubrovnik, where a Long Island group had preceded them. There, in this “unique, peaceful, beautiful old walled-in town,” Angelita Rosal joined them. From there it was 4 and ½ hours to Zadar by bus, but an enjoyable ride, since “the Yugoslavian coastline is breathtakingly beautiful.”
Allan had business in Israel, but representatives of the local club met us in Zadar. “Later we WALKED to the club from the hotel. The Americans acted as if walking was a thing of the past, but we must remember that most Yugoslavians just don’t have cars. Anyway we collected posters from store windows that announced our being in the city.” Alas, our players didn’t win here either. In fact, our women didn’t even get to play—no female opponents.
Split—no, that was not what our very much together group was going to do; Split was our next stop. A Mr. Tomisic, an archeologist, became our personal guide, and while we toured “the fourth-century Diocletian Palace” he gave us a history of the place. At the Split Club, Angie and Pat played matches—Angie won her Singles, but she and Jeff lost their Mixed. Mike did well—won a Men’s Doubles with Shonie and a Mixed with Pat.
Zagreb—that’s the town we’d been waiting for, since here we’d be playing Surbek, Stipancic, and Cordas of the Yugoslav Vjesnik Club. Assisted by permanent hosts Zdenko Uzorinac and Zlatko and Irena Cordas (who, unlike her husband, spoke English quite well), the group “spent about six days in Zagreb, and all the time we were treated like kings and queens.”
The first big match with these world-class players came at the Mladost Club. After Jeff lost to Stipancic, Shonie faced Surbek. Here’s Mike’s take on that match:
“He [Shonie] was probably nervous or just plain frightened. The first match was terrible. Surbek, who is known as an animal and the man with an iron arm, just didn’t give him a chance. The Yugoslav played an unbelievable game. His loop drive from off the floor was too much—all you could see was the end of the swing. Shonie couldn’t even get ready for the ball. He tried some of his tricky serves on Surbek, but Surbek read them all.”
Mike, who said he was glad he didn’t have to play Surbek, went up against Bozicevic, a disconcerting player who “held the paddle with the blade pointed across his body, and when he hit the ball it went sideways.” Azmy met Zlatko, thought maybe he could win, but lost 17, 19. Would he have been less disappointed were he able to see ahead to the upcoming Yugoslav Closed? There Zlatko would have wins over Korpa and Surbek before losing in the final to Karakasevic after leading 2-0 and at deuce in the 3rd. Mike and Azmy almost took a doubles—lost 19 in the 3rd. Angie and Pat? Irena Cordas, a penholder with “a good push and forehand loop drive,” was too tough. Angie did well to take a game from her. Surprisingly, Irena seemed to have trouble with Pat’s serves—would turn to her bench “with an ‘I don’t know’ look on her face.” It won’t be long, though, before Irena’s the new Yugoslav Champion—with a semi’s win over the favorite Resler in the semi’s and Jeler in the final. Matches over, it was back to the hotel for dinner—with Surbek and Stipancic wearing “their new blue, full length suede coats that were given to them by the Vjesnik Club.”*
Next day, Easter Sunday, Vjesnik played the Mladost Club, and, says Mike, we won out over the Mladost Juniors. Then we were treated to a fine meal, and even got some Easter eggs. Then the following day we went to the resort town of Toplice where Mike was able to play Stipancic. “In world competition, Stipancic gives the impression that he isn’t playing hard, but I found out that that is his style, smooth, effortless, with lots of spin that’s well controlled and well angled.” Unexpectedly in this year’s Closed he’d lose in a straight-game semi’s to Karakasevic.
After the matches, there was “dinner, then dancing in the restaurant….No one could top the dancing of Jack and Kathryn Mason. The band played ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco,’ which was a pleasant surprise to us and put us in a sentimental mood”—especially since this was the last night of our tour.
We were all again mindful of Allan’s incalculable help. “At one time, the Yugoslavians had medallions made with Allan’s picture on them, to give as awards to winners of table tennis competition.” Some tribute, eh?
Jeff Mason, it turned out, “met Damyana, fell in love with her,” and would be married this August 15th. “Play table tennis and see the world,” says Mike, “and maybe find a mate….It could happen to you.”
SELECTED NOTES.
*Tom Nurnberger (who in 1969-70 “played on the same Yugoslav team as Cordas and Surbek”) in his “Profile of Zlatko Cordas” (TTT, Nov., 1980, 3; 6) explains how “1970-74 was the ‘golden era’ of Vjesnik-Zagreb,” how they were “European Team Champions (three times in a row),” and how to Coach Herman Vukusic Cordas had to be as valuable as Surbek and Stipancic, for he “was by far the best 3rd player in Europe in team play.”
Zlatko himself, who was reported as having won the 1969 Polish Open, the Portuguese and Balkan Opens in 1970, and was runner-up in the 1973 Yugoslav Closed, said in a 1980 or ‘81 Coaching Review (6) interview: “I was on the National Team from 1967 until 1974, always as the No. 4 or No. 5 player. There were always three players better than me. When you’re on the Team that long you’re playing a lot, but not in really important matches.”