CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
1974:
Summer Tournaments—II (Insook Na, later Bhushan, arrives in U.S.). Reisman’s
“The Money Player” Reviewed.
We learn from a mysterious “H. W.” (TTT, July-Aug., 1974) that Insook Na, Captain of the South Korean Women’s Team at the Sarajevo World’s, has arrived in the States, is momentarily in New York, but has entered the July 6-7 Columbus Summer
Open. However, because of “an unfortunate mistake on the part of the tournament committee,” Insook couldn’t play in the “Men’s” Singles that offered prize money—though had that event been called “Open” Singles, she could have.
Results: Men’s: Mike Baber over runner-up Tim O’Grosky. 3rd Place: far away Long Island’s Jeff Zakarin (outdistanced, however, by Sam Ognibene, “who came all the way from the Panama Canal Zone”). 4th Place: Dayton’s Ohio #13, Kevin Legge, upset advancer over Ohio #2 John Spencer, 19 in the 5th (after being down 2-0). “At the request of the audience, Insook played “unofficial matches” against Baber, O’Grosky, and Legge who’d “just finished a week’s training at D-J’s coaching clinic” (Zakarin, too, had attended)—and of course beat them all. How far she’d come, how far she’d yet to go, since she at 13, with her mother’s urging, had joined a table tennis club at her middle school. All the schools had such clubs, she told Oregonian reporter Abby Haight, and almost everyone played. So now a career was behind her…another she could not know about ahead.
One, R. A. Pickens from Middletown, Ohio, who says (TTT, Sept.-Oct., 1974, 22) he’s a “silent observer” of the t.t. scene, complains about the “very abnormal, psychotic behavior” of many players he’s seen. Their acts are “so vulgar, obscene, and bizarre that they would transcend the imagination of even the most grotesque mind.” Alas, I received no vivid example to put in my family-minded Topics. Mr. Pickens continues:
“What is really amazing is the fact that many of these players actually hold down responsible jobs and highly respected positions. I wonder if their employers are aware that given the right situation these persons are capable of going off the ‘deep end.’ One of these players told me he had trouble sleeping because of a seemingly uncontrollable obsession with rubber!
What can be done with these Jekyll and Hyde personalities? A net or an edge at the appropriate time could send one of these people into a frothing rage. Must we all carry a derringer as an integral part of our tournament gear for protection? Don’t laugh, I have also seen this take place.”
More Columbus results: Women’s: Na over 1973 U.S. Intercollegiate Champ Diane Turnbull. Men’s Doubles: O’Grosky and Ohio #5 Jim Supensky over Spencer and Ohio #10 Shekhar Bhushan (later to be Insook’s husband). Mixed Doubles: O’Grosky/Turnbull over Legge/Na. A’s: Na over Hank Colker (first time he’d ever “lost to a woman,” he said). A Doubles: Na/Eugene Kunyo over Lyle Thiem/Tom Hall. B’s: Kunyo over John Dichiaro in 5. B Doubles: John Liu/Ron Schull over Bhushan/Jeff Williams. C’s: Scott Feldman over Al Martz. Esquire’s: Gail Norris over George Sinclair. Senior’s: Vern Weingart over Ron DeMent. Young Adults: Baber over Zakarin. U-17: Zakarin over Baber. U-15: Greg Collins over Williams. U-13’s: Williams over Gary Reinbold.
At the Aug. 24-25 Columbus Sweepstakes, Insook was back—not for the Men’s Singles but for the Open Singles. Only she didn’t win. Dick Hicks beat her in 4—with Said Helmy coming 3rd after downing Mike Joelson, deuce in the 4th, then 4th Place finisher Spenser in 5. Women’s: Na over NYC’s Helen Weiner who, with playing and working for D-J there in Columbus, had reportedly lost 12 pounds. Open Doubles: Dick and Ricky Hicks over Na/Spencer. Mixed: Bhushan/Na (down 2-0) over Dick/Norma Hicks, then over Mark Wampler/Sylvia DeMent in 4. Young Adults: Collins over Steve Slavich. Adult/Junior Doubles: Wampler/Williams over Spencer/Collins.
A’s: Miller over John Temple. A Doubles: Schull/Wampler over Norris/Randy Eller. B’s: Schull over Ron Norris, 19 in the 4th, then over Rod Mount. Boys U-17: Collins over Hicks. Girls U-17/U-15: Denise Horn over Jodee Williams. Junior Doubles: Hicks/Williams over Augustine Choi/Roy Alter. Boys U-15: Collins over Williams. Boys U-13: Williams over Jim Starr.
The Fort Wayne Summer Open saw Joe Windham ($40) win the Men’s over Veillette in the quarter’s and Baber ($25) in the final—with Garrett Donner downing Norm Schless, 19, -20, 19, for 3rd Place. Men’s Doubles: Hall/Thiem over Max Salisbury/Roy Hyden, -17, 21, -19, 21, 21. A’s: Final: Baber over Wayne Wasielewski. Semi’s: Baber over Jerry Aleknus, 7, -20, 19; Wasielewski over Alex Laufer, 16, -20, 20. B’s: Aleknus over Laufer, 16, 19, 21. C’s: Aleknus over Garrett Donner. Handicap: Baber over Hyden 51-43. Wood/Hard Rubber: Tom Kreiser over Hall. U-17’s: Baber over Doug Wilcock who’d outlasted Choi, 17, -17, 30.
Tom McEvoy reports on the Leonard Hoover Open, held June 8-9 at the Elkhart, IN Y under Tournament Director Tom Kreiser and Referee Sam Snyder. Results: Spencer, the $40 Men’s winner, had to go 5 to get by Kreiser, then might have been beaten by McEvoy, who’d taken out #1 seed Steve Hammond in 5, but survived, -16, -19, 14, 20, 10. In that 4th game, John, after being down 0-6 but up 20-19 and watching helplessly as Tom, stretching, lofted one back that caught the edge, held strong to continue his rally. (Tom also lost a 5-game heartbreaker to Wayne Wasielewski who in turn lost a 5-gamer to Spencer.) Before 19, -18, 19, 16 going down in the semifinal round robin to John, 2nd Place finisher Hall ($25) had stopped Dave Shenk, deuce in the 5th. Women’s: Connie Evans over Jean Temple. Mixed Doubles: Snyder/Sue Huff over Temple/Temple. Men’s Doubles: Snyder/Shenk in the semi’s over Hall/Temple, -26, -21, 19, 18, 19 (with an all-deciding edge in the 5th and “Bad Tom” disappointing the crowd “by not going berserk”); then in the final over Spencer/Hammond, deuce in the 4th, after John and Steve had eliminated McEvoy/Kreiser in 5.
A’s: McEvoy over Hall, 21, -7, 19, -12, 13—with “Good Tom” (winning 84 points) saying he out-psyched “Bad Tom” (winning 95 points). B’s: Wasielewski over Bill Hornyak in the semi’s (after losing the first two games), then over Kreiser in the final. B Doubles: Kreiser/Bill Connelly over Wasielewski/Jack Loth. C’s: Bill Martin over Alan Grambo. Senior’s: Miller over Hornyak. U-17’s: Gordon Roedding over Steve Betts, -18, 16, 22, 17. U-17 A’s: Alan Gould over Syed Ali, deuce in the 5th. U-15’s: Roedding over Pat Welch.
Joe Ching (TTT, Sept.-Oct., 1974, 21), reports on the East Tennessee Open, held July 27 at the West-side Y in West Knoxville. Don Stetson, Y Director, served as Tournament Chair, and Charles Clifford as Tournament Referee. “More than 20% of the entrants were beginners playing in their first sanctioned tournament.” Results: Championship Class: Ching over Bill Edwards. A winner: Tom Cohen who, “coming out after a long absence from active play,” had upset 3rd-seed Danny Hill in the Men’s. B and C winner: Dave Barbour. Four medals went to Melanie Spain for her play in the Women’s, Class D, Class E, and Doubles. Senior’s was won by Clifford, “co-director of the Neutron Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.”
Duke Stogner’s not only a spokesman for the North Little Rock, Arkansas Club (TTT, July-Aug., 1974 21-22), but the state’s Men’s Champion as well. Duke said this June 8 tournament was “our richest and most successful” Closed to date. “Richest, with over $330 awarded in gift certificates; most successful, because the largest mall in Little Rock invited us to play our finals at their location.” This resulted in media coverage, and the “services of a local TV personality to MC the event for us.”
Results: Stogner over 16-year-old runner-up Marty Simpson. Language Prof Val Eichmann, who’d rallied from down 2-0 to escape Jamey Hall, couldn’t topple Duke in the 5th, but he did take 3rd Place with a 4-game win over Phil Hadfield. Men’s Doubles: Stogner/Eichmann over Hadfield/Hall who’d advanced over Mike and Lynn Young, -19, 20, 13. Women’s: Jan Bratton won her 3rd State Championship—over M. Pakis. Mixed Doubles: Scott/Scott over Hadfield/Weiss, 25-23 in the 3rd. A’s: Hadfield over C. Scott in 5. A Doubles: Gossom/Mommsen over Lyon/Hoofman, 18 in the 5th. B’s: Light over Hoofman. Senior’s: H. Saunders over C. Bratton. U-17’s: Simpson over Mommsen. Under 17 Doubles: Simpson/Randy Pelt over Mommsen/ Young. U-13’s: Randy Pelt over Bobby Hall.
Stogner goes on to tell us what a pleasure it was to have at his Aug. 3-4 Razorback Open a touring Dell, Connie, and Todd Sweeris, along with Woodland teenage students, Irl Copely and Bruce Plotnick. That’s right, I said Todd Sweeris, future t.t. Olympian. The 14-month-old boy while “holding his king-size racket in hand, would holler ‘Ball! Ball!’ and Dell would toss the ball across the floor so junior could chase after it.” Todd didn’t play in the Open Singles, but anyone who did had a chance right from the get-go to collect some of the $500 prize money—“$10 for a first round win, $15 for second round, $25 for third round, $40 for semi’s and $90 for finals.”
Results: Open Singles: Sweeris (through 4 rounds) defeated: (1) Steve Kraley who’d won his $10 from Vic Meridith, deuce in the 5th. (2) Joe Cummings: although the Texan said he “hadn’t picked up his racket since the National’s,” he’d knocked out Ralph Kissel, 23-21 in the 4th. (3) Richard James, advancer over Brad Fountain, 19, -16, 19, 21, then over Don Gaither. (4) Defensive star Hanumanth Rao who’d eliminated peripatetic 14-year-old Bruce Plotnick and the Windham brothers (earlier, Joe just did cope with Copley, 18 in the 5th). “Dell said he tried to keep Rao about four feet from the table, where his chopping wouldn’t hurt him.” Men’s Doubles: Cummings/Plotnick over Windham/Windham in 5. Women: Leslie Harris in a 20, 20 thriller over Peggy Shaha after Peggy had 8, 7, annihilated her in the U-17’s. Mixed Doubles: J. Windham/Shaha over Hugh Lax/Harris in 5.
A’s: Don Weems over Charles Butler. A Doubles: Perry Schwartzberg/Steve Simon over Nicolaas/Kraley. B’s: M. Neely over Larry Thoman. Senior’s: Meridith, though losing to R.C. Watkins, won the title in a head-to-head tie-breaker over Lax, 19, 19. U-17’s: Schwartzberg over Shaha. U-17 Doubles: Jamey Hall/Keith Friley over Downey/Harris. U-13’s: Tracy Garvey over Randy Pelt. . Atlanta held two summer tournaments, both reported on by Wendell Dillon. Results of the July Open (TTT, July-Aug., 1974, 28): Championship Singles: Bernie Bukiet in 4 over Greg Gingold who’d straight-game eliminated Monty Merchant now running a t.t. club in Mobile. Championship Doubles: Gingold/Cosmo Graham over Pat Patterson/Bev Hess.
A’s: Graham over Ray Filz in 5, then over Hess. A Doubles: Graham/Jim Altenbach over R. Sanders/G. Stephens. B’s: Steve Hitchner (who’d never won an event before) over Chamberlain. C’s: Hitchner (beginning to cause scheduling problems) over C.C. Wang, 19 in the 4th. Consolation: Hitchner over Bill Brown. U-17’s: John Elliott over Brown, -16, 16, 21, 17. Bill was one of those 7 Juniors whom Regional Coach Randy Hess said attended Kuo-san Chung’s July 5 clinic at Durham’s St. Peter’s Episcopal Church under the sponsorship of the Saints and Sinners Club. Kuo-san felt it was important with new players to begin by emphasizing training rather than coaching because with training it was easier to see improvement. Also, he advocated teaching serve returns immediately, for if players didn’t learn how to do that, they might soon quit.
The Atlanta Novice Open (TTT, Sept.-Oct., 1974, 24) didn’t sound like much fun to watch, but, as we’ll see in a moment, the standard of play expected was partly deceiving. “A novice,” explained Wendell, “was anyone who had not won a singles event in a USTTA sanctioned tournament.” Lance Rosemore donated trophies, and the Open organizers “gave a money-back guarantee that each novice would win at least one match.” How’d that turn out? “We refunded only one entry fee…(name withheld to protect the writer).” Top Novice winner was (and don’t tell me he came down just for the tournament) Ron Herman from Irvington, N.J. over Atlanta’s Lee Cogburn.
Meanwhile, during the two days of Novice play, 8 players were invited to enter a Championship round robin for $150 in prizes—all matches to be 3 out of 5 and played individually on one table. Results: 1. Monty Merchant, 7-0 ($75). 2. Greg Gingold, 6-1 ($30). At the summer Open, Greg had beaten Monty 3-0. Here, though Greg rallied beautifully, Monty held on to win, 17, 11, -17, -25, 15. 3. Richard McAfee, 5-2 ($25). 4. Mike Dempsey, 3-4 ($20)—with wins over John Elliott, Pete May, and Rosemore, and losses to the top three and Steve Rigo.
Baton Rouge’s Tom Baudry loves table tennis. For three seasons he’s run a coaching clinic for the beginner through intermediate player, and has built up a local exhibition team that includes Ricky Bello, Bruce Smith, Keith Friley, Karen Friley, Melinda Varner, and Jim Kemp. Here’s how upbeat Tom is:
“…Table tennis will, with the right people pushing it, literally explode into one of the fastest growing sports. In my own town I see hundreds of table tennis tables in carports and garages. These people never heard of the USTTA or table tennis coaches. The interest is there, all we need to do is SELL IT TO THE PUBLIC. We need more people like Dell Sweeris, Jeff Smart, Randall Hess, and I must add Ron Shirley, for he did the greatest job of selling table tennis to the public that I ever did see. Let’s get more coaches and promoters throughout the country and keep the current momentum going for table tennis….”
Year after year, decade after decade, enthusiasts talk this way. But IS the public’s interest there?
However, in at least one instance, Tom’s thought “that if you want something bad enough it will happen” came true. In hot and humid Baton Rouge, Tom’s club isn’t air-conditioned, and, since he hadn’t been able to find any suitable air-conditioned facility around town, no summer tournament was possible. Until…
“…A congenial fellow named Herman Dunn is a local insect exterminator and while spraying my home each month noticed my table tennis photographs which are all over the walls of my game room. He mentioned that he had never seen a table tennis tournament and asked me why we didn’t have one in the new municipal stadium of the town of Baker.”
Dunn lives in Baker, knows Mayor Pete Heine, and so sets up a meeting with the cooperative Mayor and Tom—and, presto, the July 21 Louisiana Closed is held in the beautiful air-conditioned Baker facility. With the help of the Baton Rouge Club’s New Jersey transplant Charles Klestadt as Tournament Director, Jim Kelly as his right hand, and Ann Klestadt as “never tiring mainstay of the official desk,” play proceeded to a happy conclusion. Championship Singles winner Hugh Baxley received a trophy of course, but also had charge for a year of a traveling trophy, “a beautiful silver Cup,” presented to him, along with a Key to the City, by Mayor Heine.
Results: Championship Singles: Baxley (after being down 2-0), 25-23 in the 5th over Bruce Smith who’d reached the final by downing Reggie Barrus, 15, -18, 23, 18. Men’s Doubles: Ricky Bello/Smith over Baxley/Power Poon who’ll later be putting on some powerhouse tournaments in Baton Rouge. Women’s: C. Joseph over Karen Friley, 16, -20, 13, -15, 17. Mixed Doubles: Baxley/Hoyt over Alan Long/Joseph. A’s: Bello over Smith. Senior’s: Barrus over John Naylor.
The Baton Rouge Fall League runs from October through March, and ends “with a lavish awards banquet at a local steak house.” Indispensable to this League is Klestadt whom Baudry describes as “a wire-haired human (I think), who, in place of many cells and corpuscles, was created with many thousand diodes, transistors, connectors, buttons, and blinking lights. He works with amazing speed and accuracy and requires very little service (at the Club anyway). We give him the matches won & lost by every player, press his nose, then watch his eyes blink, and 10 seconds later the players’ averages roll out of his mouth.”
Last season’s 2-man (8 team) League standings: 1. Sherwood Forest (Klestadt, 42-6, and Smith, 34-14). 2. River Oaks (Hal Herrington, 31-12, and Jairo Leon (22-17). Top 5 Individual Standings: 1. R. Hoff, 38-2. 2. Poon, 39-4. 3. Baxley, 34-4. 4. Klestadt, 42-6. 5. Baudry, 32-10.
Results of the Capital Open, held in New Carrolton, MD Aug. 10-11: Men’s: Surasak over Herb Horton. Matches of note: Horton over Carl Kronlage, 19 in the 4th, and Cosmo Graham over Ken Silverstein, 18 in the 5th. Men’s Doubles: Gordon Gregg/Bob Kaminsky over Surasak/Curt Kronlage. Women’s: Yvonne Kronlage over Lucila McKay. Women’s Doubles: Kronlage/McKay over George Heyman/Jackie Heyman. Mixed Doubles: Kronlage/Kronlage over Ertel/Ertel. Esquire’s: Jim Verta over Dick Stakes. Senior’s: Horton over Verta. Men’s A’s: Mike Clarke over Stakes, deuce in the 3rd, then over Jerry Boyle. Women’s A’s: McKay over Ertel, 18, -21, 19. A Doubles: Clarke/Fred Dosik over Steif/Raul Rodriguez. B’s: Clarke over Alan Evenson, 19 in the 3rd, then over Jeff Steif.
Boys U-17: Steif over Evanson. Girls U-17/U-15: Heyman over V. Backaitis. U-17 Doubles: Kronlage/Dave Driggers over Steif/Brian Masters who will grow up to become the U.S. Pan-Am Champion. Boys U-15: Steif over Kronlage. Girls U-15: Heyman over U-15 Doubles: Kronlage/A. Roecklin over Steif/Masters, 20, -21, 18. Boys U-13: Kronlage over Masters, Girls U-13: Backaitis over L. Greenberg. Boys U-11: Wayne Greenberg over Masters.
Herb Vichnin, in writing up the July 27-28 Northeast Open, held at the “new, luxurious Northeast Racquet Club” in Philadelphia, said the players liked the tournament, but that the Philadelphia Club suffered financially. “More than 30 entries (who had promised to pay upon arrival, due to either late entry or financial troubles) failed to show. Thus this revenue was lost and the added expense of the Racquet Club” was an unexpected burden. From now on: “anyone not sending in his entry fee along with his entry blank” won’t be in the draw; “telephone entries must have their fees in within three days”; and “anyone withdrawing from the tournament after the draw has been made (approximately three to four days before the tournament) will not receive a refund.”
Results: Men’s: Danny Seemiller, “head and shoulders above” all East Coast players, over Errol Resek. Semi’s: Seemiller over Robert Earle, recently arrived from the Islands, who “walked through both David Philip (2198) and Alex Shiroky (2221)”; Resek over Sealtiel. Matches of more than routine interest: Al Allen over Dave Sakai; Sam Balamoun nipped Ricky Seemiller, then went down in 5 to Resek when Errol won two big deuce games. Chris Yuen got by George Brathwaite in 5, then lost to Sealtiel (“Mitch won one point from Chris by pushing the ball cross-court for an ace”).
Men’s Doubles: Danny Seemiller/Sakai over Gary Wittner/Boggan (from down 2-0), deuce in the 5th, then over Brathwaite/Resek who’d downed Balamoun/Smolanowicz in 4. Ray Arditi will later tell us that “Sam and Stanley, best of friends, put on countless exhibitions, including half-time shows at Philadelphia 76ers basketball games.” Other crowd-pleasing matches: Balamoun/Smolanowicz, 20, -11, 20, over Earle/Horace Roberts; and Wittner/Boggan, 19 in the 3rd, over Bill Sharpe/Richard Farrell.
Perhaps Farrell will now begin his stay in Philadelphia? Years later, long after Richard, with his high-risk life-style, had been murdered at the age of 41 over a woman he wouldn’t give up, I began to learn more about him from his Philly clubmates. Here’s Ray Arditi [reminding readers of Vol. IV what had mostly been hinted at, and also suggesting what might surface later]:
“…I first met Richard at a Nationals at Cobo Hall at the age of 14. He was a stone-cold, hard rubber chopper who tenaciously wore players down. Only did he occasionally flash a pick-hit. Years later he moved to Philadelphia where I was amazed to see he had changed his style to a steady inverted flat-hitting attacking game. Richard, modest to a fault, at times reminisced about a tournament that he’d won or mentioned his joys in practicing with John Tannehill and D.J. Lee. He was soft-spoken and really never said much about himself….
Richard and John Day lived together for many years, and often could be seen at the Philly Club together. According to Richard, it was John who took him under his wing and cared for him…, traveled with him, and put a roof over his head and food on the table. I believe John was a waiter. He didn’t seem to be well-educated, but he was one of the most pleasant personalities I’ve ever met, a real soft-spoken, kind-hearted, easy-going gentleman….An acknowledged homosexual,… [he] was there for Richard as a father.” [Parviz Mojaverian remembers “that Rich was sometimes annoyed by John and would tell him, ‘Leave me alone, man. What do you want from me? Stop following me around.’”]
…Sol Schiff described Richard as a good kid, a kid who needed some direction and for a while one of the finest players in the country. He was quite a colorful character, an eighth-grade dropout who ran away from home. His father was an alcoholic who hardly saw him, and his mother abused him to the point that Richard couldn’t take it any more. Table tennis offered Richard a discipline, a more enobling path, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a way to connect with people. Richard was a rolling stone, and it [table tennis] was his salvation, his hope, his instrument to validate his life….”
I don’t remember if Berwick, PA’s Dave Dickson, II played in this Philadelphia tournament, but he sure is helping Danny Seemiller run his Aug. 5-10 Clinic For Boys and Girls. The $75 package features “Five days of instruction…[and] play at the YMCA during the five nights. There will also be a tournament. AND lodging and three meals a day at the Dickson residence two blocks from the Y!
Other Northeast Open results: A’s: Balamoun over Mike Veillette. A Doubles: Wittner/Scott Boggan over Roger and Alan Sverdlik. B’s: Benfield Munroe over “the #2 seed, the #7 seed, and the guy who upset the #1 seed, all rated between 1870-1895.” Naturally he was defaulted out of the D’s and E’s. In the C’s, George Rocker beat him—but George didn’t win the event. Matt Dixon did—over Mort Zakarin, after Mort had stopped Cosmo Graham. D’s: Dixon over Jeff Steif. E’s: Enoch Green over Boris Bohun-Chudyniv. Handicap winner: Eliot Katz. Handicap Doubles: Arthur Nieves/Louise Chotras—make that, after their recent wedding, Nieves/Nieves—over Wittner/Scott Boggan. Senior’s: Boggan over Sharpe (who in retaliation would oust Tim from the Men’s). Adult Junior Doubles: R. Sverdlik/S. Boggan over Tim/Eric Boggan. Junior winners: U-17: Carl Danner; U-17A: S. Boggan; U-15: Steif; U-13: E. Boggan.
Winner of the Lost Battalion Closed, held Aug. 29-30 in Queens, N.Y., was Bill Ma over Jack Rozales who’d gotten by Vainius in 5. A fellow who complained about receiving rude treatment at the N.Y.C. 73rd St. Club should go see the Lost Batallion Recreation Director Irv Rosenberg. This Closed had 41 entries, so surely there are those who play regularly there in Queens. Hopefully, this fellow could get a game where he probably wouldn’t have to play “for $1 a set and time” against one who, to his surprise, treated him “with such contempt and disdain.”*
The 22-event Long Island 1-Star Open, held June 15-16, 1974 at Long Beach, N.Y.’s Nassau County Arena, was directed by Tournament Chair Chris Schlotterhausen with assists from Referee Fred Danner and LITTA Executive Vice-President Mort Zakarin. For some reason unknown to me now, though I played in this tournament, not even the results (which I may have acquired many years later from Chris’s daughter, Lisa) found their way into Topics. Perhaps, as Danny Ganz said in his “Bats and Balls” column (TTT, May-June, 1974, 42), “No one should run a tournament by himself….Right, Chris?” Danny added that it was freezing cold in the Arena on Sunday morning because the air-conditioner had been left on overnight. He also said that those “who throw rackets, bang the tables, and on the whole destroy, a little bit at a time, other people’s equipment” ought to be made to play against Stanley Winter.” Danny described Stan, one of the 140 entries at this (no-cash-prizes) tournament, as “club champion at the McAlpin Hotel.”
Results: Men’s: George Brathwaite over Rory Brassington (no score). Best matches: Ron Luth over Guy “Tommy” Castronovo, 19 in the 5th; Fox over Jeff Zakarin, 18 in the 5th; Roger Sverdlik over Dave Shapiro, 22, -11, 20, 19; Peter Dunn over Greg Garritano, 18, 17, -23, 22. Eighth’s: Alex Shiroky over Sam Balamoun in 5. Quarter’s: Stan Smolanowicz, -6, 22, -11, 17, 19, over Shiroky; Brassington over Sverdlik, 19 in the 4th. Men’s Doubles: Brathwaite/Shiroky over Smolanowicz/Balamoun, 18 in the 4th, after Stan/Sam had taken out Sakai/Tim Boggan in 5. Women’s: Alice Green over Louise Chotras, 3-0. Best match: Asta Hiller over Gloria Amoury (from down 2-0). Women’s Doubles: Chotras/Evelyn Zakarin over Janet Newbold/Bernardine Hines. Mixed: R. Sverdlik/Chotras, 18 in the 5th over Boggan/Zakarin, then 18 in the 4th over Sakai/Helen Weiner who’d outlasted Hal/Alice Green in 5.
A’s: Winston “Bobby” Cousins over Eliot Katz who’d knocked out Brooklyn’s Jimmy Gibson in 5. Gibson was 1-1 with #1 seed Horace Roberts when Horace withdrew; Jimmy then went on to down Ali Oveissi, 19 in the 3rd. Other good matches: Shu Lin Fu over Benfield Munroe, 20, -19, 23; A. Green over Steve Greenwald, 18, -20, 18. A Doubles: H. Roberts/Cousins over Smolanowicz/Balamoun. B’s: Gibson over Munroe (n.s.). Good match: Mario Anorga over Greenwald, 19 in the 3rd. B Doubles: Gibson/Ray Maldonado over Fox/Rutledge Barry. C’s: Gibson (RINGER!) over Peter Pavljuk who’d eliminated Jeff Steif, 19 in the 3rd. Additional good match: Simon Jacobson over Robert Nochenson, 19 in the 3rd. Men’s Consolation: Greenwald over Mort Zakarin. Women’s Consolation: Weiner over Zakarin.
Esquire’s: George Rocker over Manny Moskowitz, 20, -17, 22. Senior’s: Boggan over Sid Jacobs by default—after Sid apparently exhausted himself in earlier matches against George Chotras, -19, 18, 20, and Rocker, 23-21 in the 4th. Senior Doubles: Sol Schiff/Jacobs over Boggan/Zakarin, 19 in the 3rd. Boys U-17’s: Roger Sverdlik over Eliot Katz, 3-0 who’d gotten by Jeff Zakarin, -16, 18, 20, 18. Girls U-17’s: Kim Kirschberg over M. Marolda. U-15’s: Eric Boggan over Steif, 21, 20. U-13’s: Barry over E. Boggan. Junior Doubles: R. Sverdlik/E. Boggan over Katz/Carl Danner. Parent-Child Doubles: Tim/Eric Boggan over Fred/Carl Danner.
Reisman’s The Money Player Reviewed
The Money Player—that was the name of Marty Reisman’s just-out bestseller. And who better to review it than novelist/playwright Tom Dulack (TTT, Sept.-Oct., 1974, cover+):
“I don’t believe that Marty Reisman wrote this book. Parts of the narrative betray a very professional talent. Writing is a discipline at least as demanding as table tennis, and if Reisman spent as much of his life learning how to write as well as portions of “The Money Player” are written, he could never have become the kind of table tennis player the book tells us he was. Besides, “The Money Player” is all about hustling—consummate hustling. Is it plausible that Reisman at this advanced stage of his life could deny the instincts of forty-plus years and resist the temptation to try his sleight-of-hand at a bit of literary hustling as well? I doubt it.
But it doesn’t matter who wrote the book. At its weakest and most disorganized, it does not fail to engage your attention. And much of the time it’s awfully good.
Parenthetically, I might add that I also question whether the story is ‘true.’ Some of the adventures recounted here seem patently incredible—most notably a long and engrossing anecdote toward the end of the book in which Reisman relieves a homicidal thug in Omaha of eighteen thousand dollars. But that doesn’t matter either. It’s my experience that any time anyone—regardless of the purity of his motives (and there is little to suggest here that purity of motives figures prominently in Reisman’s scheme of things)—sets out to tell the “truth” about himself he invariably fails. All fiction is autobiography; all autobiography is fiction. It can’t be any other way. The face we see in the mirror is not the same face our friends see. Truth, reality—it’s all a matter of images, and images by definition are elusive and ephemeral—ghosts in effect.
What does matter is that—like a novel (and “The Money Player reads like a very good minor novel in many places)—the book develops a marvelous multi-faceted character named Marty Reisman, an amoral scoundrel who paradoxically disarms us and makes virtue appear as tedious and unappetizing as in fact it is. The book is a fantasy that causes us to re-examine the terms of our own pedestrian lives with a freshly critical eye and leaves us feeling envious of the life of general piracy it describes. It appeals to the criminal in all of us, and it accomplishes this in a distinctly literary way.
This Reisman, this character Reisman, is dirty, he is funny; he is blessed with the capacity for self-deprecation, self-mockery (vide a hilarious vignette in which he tries to destroy somebody in a street fight employing techniques of karate only to end up himself in the hospital, self-destructed); he is neurotic; he is pathetic; he is venal; he is vulnerable; and, withal, he is heroic.
It’s a considerable creation, this Marty Reisman. I agree with Holden Caulfield’s theory that the test of a book’s merit is whether or not you want to call up the author when you’re finished reading. I would enjoy talking to the author of “The Money Player.” By the same token, I would no more like to talk to the Marty Reisman of this book than I would to the hero of “The Catcher in The Rye.”
Reisman, however, is not the only fascinating characterization in the story. The narrative is replete with vivid cameos and guest appearances. The supporting cast is a character-actor’s dream. There is the drooling vampiric pederast, Larry Quinn. And the monkish, selfish, enigmatical Dick Miles. And the half-comical, half-sinister World Champion Hiroji Satoh (even the name has an inspired fictional ring) with his maddening foam rubber racket that revolutionized the game in 1952 and denied Reisman his dream of being World Champion himself. There is Holtzman, the burly suspicious maniac in Omaha. And Doug Cartland, Reisman’s Sancho Panza who accompanies him across the Orient on a wild burlesque pilgrimage encompassing courts of kings and potentates, flea-bag hotels, diplomatic conundrums, desperate poverty, giddy successes, hair-breadth escapes from the law, gold-smuggling, and God knows what all else. All of whom combine to imbue the narrative with a texture and richness and resonance very uncommon in books by professional athletes as-told-to.
There are, furthermore, levels to Reisman’s story which further distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill sports books clogging the drug-store shelves these days. Along with everything else, “The Money Player” is a study of an obsessed man. I’m not certain we ever learn precisely whether the obsession is gambling or table tennis—and I think a great opportunity is missed to analyze one or both of these obsessions definitively—but we begin to sense the tragic side of every comic mask in the sections dealing with Reisman’s mental crack-up, the collapse of his marriage (mostly implied—a novelist would have spelled it out), and his pathetic attempts to go cold-turkey and lead a respectable life as, of all things, a shoe salesman. This element of the book, to be sure, is never entirely without humor; indeed, it’s one of Reisman’s graces that he never takes himself too seriously. But the sadness and emptiness of his life does show through the irony and self-deprecation and self-delusion, and it’s instructive.
By and large, however, the tone is breezy and the pace is quick if not always absolutely sure. There are a number of fine set-pieces, my favorite being a description of the epic match in 1952 between Cartland and Reisman and Nobi Hayashi and Satoh on the stage of a movie theatre in Osaka, Japan when the very lives of the Americans are made to seem to depend on the outcome. Throughout this long section, the author (whoever he is) manages to make you suspend your disbelief and read on to the climax as compulsively as you race to the conclusion of a thriller like “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.” It is an admirably sustained and controlled piece of suspenseful story telling which by itself could stand as the basis of the script for a movie I assure you I would stand in line to see.
To place my response to and my enthusiasm for this book in some useful perspective, perhaps it’s worth remarking that for three months this summer I was somewhat too much in the company of professional athletes. I spent seven days at the US Open in Mamaroneck helping Dick Schaap collect material for his golf book. And three weekends with Mario Andretti doing a story for Sport Magazine. Plus twelve days at Forest Hills interviewing tennis players. In addition I was reading thousands of pages of junk about Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford to determine the feasibility of writing a book about them. I also read a wretched as-told-to autobiography of Andretti and another of Billie Jean King (so much alike in their sanitized unreality they might as well have been written by the same dead hand), non-books both. So I was pretty sick of athletes in particular and sports in general when I happened across “The Money Player.” Moreover, I was doing final revisions on a novel of my own about religious mysticism and hysteria. I was also reading things like “Daniel Deronda,” “King Lear,” “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” “Great Expectations,” and “Song of Myself,” in comparison with which anything less had to seem pointless, trivial, and dull.
Nevertheless I read “The Money Player” straight through without stopping, often laughing out loud and calling up friends to read them passages. When I finished, I immediately got in touch with Tim Boggan and asked to review it.** Since then I’ve recommended it to just about everyone I know.
If, finally, it ain’t quite literature, it’s still a hell of an entertainment, this intelligent little book. It deserves a large success—the more so because Reisman probably needs the money and will no doubt have to split the royalties with his ghost 50-50.”
Of course others in the Table Tennis world, especially those who’d let it be known they’d talked to Marty, had things to say about the book. Here’s Jairie Resek in her gossipy “It’s What’s Happening” Topics column (Sept.-Oct., 1974, 10):***
“…If you haven’t read Marty Reisman’s book yet, do it now. It’s called “The Money Player.” And he’s making THE MONEY on it. The serial rights have been sold to Publishers Hall, and 1500 words from Chapter 10 will appear in several newspapers, including The New York Times. His $100,000 package deal for the movie rights doesn’t include a $10,000 consultation fee and other goodies. He’ll play all his own table tennis scenes. I can see Tony Perkins playing Marty. His book reviews have been great so far. Some say it’s the most dynamic and exciting sports book ever written. But then it has to be, for Mr. Marty Reisman is a very interesting, diversified offbeat tool for promoting the book….”
Wow, is that on the money…or what? Sounds like something Marty himself would write. (An excerpt from the book did appear in the Oct. 13, 1974 N.Y. Times.)
Reba Monness, 1947 World Women’s Doubles finalist, was Marty’s feisty friend—with an even bigger ego. She has a somewhat lengthy Topics article (Nov.-Dec., 1974, 14), “In Re To Reisman and Le Libre” (the title is sooo Reba), in which she talks as much about herself as Marty. Since in my previous volumes I’ve given readers a sense of what she was like, I’ll try to focus on Marty via her remembrances of him. Here are some excerpts:
“…As a person, Marty is bright, quick, courteous, capricious, graceful, always neat, dapper, well-dressed, sensitive, curious. He has a taste for the best.
…[When he was a young teenager], he went to an Ohio tournament on the train with the group from New York. In the dining car (I paid for his meals on the train), the menus offered three different priced meals; it therefore provoked me a great deal when the little stinker ordered the most expensive meals on the menu, each meal….
It would be difficult for you to guess how much money Marty pays for one shirt, a pair of slacks, his shoes, his jackets—all of his wearing apparel comes from the finest, most expensive shops in New York. He legitimately pays the highest prices for them.
…Frequently unreliable he was and perhaps still is in re to keeping scheduled appointments. I remember once at Herwald Lawrence’s t.t. emporium when reporters from N.B.C. television, and Associated Press came to interview ME and televise my theatrical act. I had promised Marty that I’d perform this show with him and in return he swore he’d be there at 4 p.m. Well, the…reporters arrived at four o’clock and they were very nice to me—I had to ask them to wait for my partner and they did—but when Reisman came, one hour later, despite his pleading, his palliative “You know what happened?” I walked out!
…We were to play an exhibition for Fred Waring, the great orchestra leader….Marty was not only supposed to let ME take the offense TOO but …was not to finish the points too quickly….Well, immediately following his serve, the ‘little punk’ (he’s much taller than I) blasted every ball right through me!…
Marty has a marvelous sense of humor. He can laugh at himself with great enjoyment. (No one can deny that this is a superior form of intelligence.)
About two years ago Marty was quoting and emoting Shakespeare to me on the telephone, His histrionics came right through the phone—actually, ad nauseam. I would listen for a while, but there’s a limit, y’know, so, soon, I’d feign doorbell ringing or the ‘like.’ Trippingly from the tongue, he elicits four or more syllable words, correctly too; he is now teaching his fourteen-year-old daughter, Debbie, to read the dictionary….
It’s amazing how Marty has ‘grown’—intellectually and intelligently. He has always had ineffable charm. I met Reisman’s father (who’s of course mentioned repeatedly in ‘The Money Player’) and I’ll state that Marty was lucky in that he received devotion and genuine love from his dad….I’ve given Marty love too. Indeed, in ‘The Money Player’ he passed off our longstanding friendship too lightly.
Oh, another remembrance. (They come into the mind quickly, like Marty’s smile—or his forehand.) Once when we had an exhibition for 12 noon….I became apprehensive of his being there at noon….I was able to yank Marty out of Lawrence’s and took him to my apartment to sleep. I just knew this was the only way that we’d arrive on schedule for the exhibition….Fortunately my conservative husband had planned to spend the night with his ailing father—so that to this day he never knew about it….
Hey, Tom Dulack…Actually Marty lives fully and richly in his own way…and what charisma!…”
Reba also did a very long Profile of me—er, actually under her byline, I re-wrote a good deal of it (TTT, July-Aug., 1974, 9). Although it may well be that enough of me has already found its way into these volumes, I’ll chance this photo—it gives you a glimpse of my “outside” life.
SELECTED NOTES.
*Two other visitors to the West Side (Riverside Plaza) Club had articles in Topics: George Kauderer, a New Yorker very active in the Game since the 1930’s, complained he had to play for $1 a set and time and, since his opponent wouldn’t let him play his game, he didn’t enjoy “the experience.” However, Jon Bein, a visitor from Oxford, Ohio, said that when he played at the Club all the players, as well as the manager there, Morris Pollock, were all very nice to him. Still another NYC player, a young man who, if he could, would be willing to play 10 hours a day to be among the top 100 players in the country, has little money, so he writes to Topics—says he can’t afford to pay $3 an hour and perhaps someone else’s time to play the game he loves. He asks, Does anyone know a Club where he might work and so play free?”
** I’d given the book to Tom hoping he’d review it.
***A “Stop Press!” item to end all items is Jairie’s announcement that this would be her last column, last article “for the present.” (She doesn’t like calling what she’s been writing “gossip” because that word sounds so malicious and this column is not.”) “By the time you read this,” she says, “Errol and I will be divorced. We want all our friends to remain our friends—because Errol and I are friends. And next to being husband and wife, friends are best. I will miss all of you. Chao.”