CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
1978: Pre-U.S. Closed Tournaments.
Jay Crystal, in reporting (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 18) on the Benihana Open, held Nov. 11-12 at the Paddle Palace, says he was amazed to see the huge turnout for this tournament. From Vancouver alone came “15-20 men, women and children,” and from Eugene, Oregon (“home of the infamous Ducks who are floundering in football but are 2-0 in collegiate team t.t. play this year”) a dozen more entries; there were also players from California and Idaho. The Open, AA, and A events had double the average entrants. “But…was there any prize money? Noooo. Not even $10. Not even $.50. But we played for some real nice dinners—I’ll give Benihana credit for that.”
Since the Open drew 65 entries, the final wasn’t played until 11:40 p.m. On the one side of the draw, Eddie Lo downed Charlie McLarty in the 8th’s, me in the 4th’s, and Ron Carver in the semi’s. “Eddie was looking awesome. His forehand loop was too fast and steady for us, and his footwork was excellent. I keep telling him that he and Peter Joe should make the Canadian Team this year. [Peter would, Eddie wouldn’t.]”
On the other side of the draw, in the quarter’s, “Quang Bui was down 2-0 to Zoltan Pataky before he adjusted to ‘Zolty’s’ slow spin” and came back to win in five. In the semi’s, he faced Doyle who’d advanced over temperamental Bryan Wright. Though Quang had never beaten Dean, he was up 2-0, but got sloppy and lost the third game. “He was then so swamped with coaching during the 5-minute break that it looked like Dean might go on to win. But Quang survived a tight 4th game at 19.”
In the final, after Lo had taken the first two games, Jay gave Quang some strategic advice and he jumped off to an 8-0 lead. Then, gaining momentum, he took the 4th as well. “The 5th game was classic.” Eddie wasn’t looping now with the same reckless abandon, so Quang was able to counter with him, swinging with his own reckless abandon. Down 20-16 in the 5th, Quang deuced it and went on to win his first tournament at the Paddle Palace. Dr. Michael Scott praised Quang “not only as a talented player who excels under tournament pressure, but as an unspoiled, well-liked, well-behaved, well-mannered, non-conceited, young man who would be an excellent representative of the USA in international play.” M’gosh, Michael, that’s an endorsement for a lifetime!
Other Results: Open Doubles: Crystal/Khoa Bui over Pataki/Lo, deuce in the 3rd, then over Doyle/Quang Bui. AA’s: Peter Smith over Leslie Ehn. A’s: Ron Vincent over Young Joe Kim. Modified A Doubles: Doyle/Benji Klevit over Johnny Chew/Woo. B’s: Bill Popp over Bob Andrews. B Doubles: Popp/Harris over Chew/Robert Chin. C’s: Gayle Wilson over Harry Mah. D’s: Jan Collins over Sacramento’s Bob Homer, 19 in the 3rd. Modified D Doubles: Ross/Chew over Homer, Sr./Jr. E’s: Robert Larson over John Elicker, Sr. F’s: Elicker, Sr. over Tom Sayre. G’s: Warren Jung over Mike Jones. Rating’s: Chew over Len Lukey-Ott. Hard Rubber: Doyle over Crystal. Junior’s: Doyle over Khoa Bui. Jr.’s U-1600: Klevit over Mah, 22, -13, 18. Jr.’s U-1000: John Elicker over Gayanne Homer.
Tony Martin (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1979, 21) tells us that Franz Huermann, though “only playing occasionally because of a night job,” successfully defended his Championship Singles title at the Phoenix Closed by downing John Harrington in the final in straight games. Harrington was a good player. In 1968-’69 he’d been the United States Army—Europe Champion, and, like the future Forrest Gump, had traveled all over. “But whenever John gave him the slightest opening, Franz was up at the table, hitting forehands and especially effective backhands.”
In the Championship Singles there were three entertaining matches. “The first featured Norm Schwartz against 14-year-old John Merkel. Norm won his first city title four years before John was born!...In recent years Norm has taken up racketball and his pre-tournament practice was done on the racketball court. Still, with his experience, Norm was able to stay up at the table, block John’s shots, and then generate his own offense.” But finally youth prevailed in 5.
“Next, John played hard rubber specialist, 19-year-old Paul Groenig,” whom he often practiced with. “John was the aggressor, looping and hitting. But if the rally went longer than six shots, Paul would switch to offense and John would then block. Match to Groenig in 5.
“In the semi’s, Paul faced Harrington. John was runner-up to Schwartz in this same tournament in 1960, when Paul was 1 year old. (Norm and John were juniors at the time.) In the state rankings John has edged out Paul the last two years, but Paul has the higher rating (2027).” Up 1-0, but down 20-16 in the 2nd, Paul, “irritated at himself, grabbed the ball, served, and hit a hard slam past John…Then won the next five points by smashing both forehand and backhand.” After that, would you think he’d lose this match? But he did.
Other results: Championship Doubles: Huermann/Groenig over Merkel/Dennis Jewell who got by Harrington/Bill Guerin, 18 in the 4th. (Guerin had played with some success as a Junior back in the 1959 Inglewood, CA U.S. Open, but since then had spent much more time on tennis rather than table tennis.) Women: Pam Jaffe, for her first city title, over Corina Santiago and her strong backhand kills. Mixed Doubles winner: Groenig/Tommie Burke. A’s: Peter Kwong over Mark Jaffe. B’s: Jack Badders over Don Gropp in 5. B Doubles: Oliver Nicholas/Gropp over Badders/Gloria Jones. C’s: Santiago over Don Cheperka. U-17: Merkel over Bobby Ryberg. Esquire’s: Sy Kenig over John Porter. Senior’s: Kenig over Ken Hoover. Senior Doubles: Kenig/Forrest Barr over Bill Baker/Bob Groenig. But watch out, Sy. Martin says Gene Wilson’s just made the move from California to Sedona, AZ, and “with the enthusiasm of a youthful player, plans to drive 228 miles round-trip to play in the Phoenix League.”
John Dawson covers the 6th Annual Colorado Springs Christmas Open. In Championship Singles, Paul Williams had a hard 1st-round match in Championship Singles against Phantom chopper Dawson, but then he went on to prevail in the semifinal round robin by lobbing, looping, and hitting his way to first place and $50. Runner-up in the 1-1 three-way tiebreaker was Tim Walsh whose Phantom backhand block and topspin did in looper Rick Jones and chopper Dana Jeffries, then, on getting to the semifinal round robin, Tim also beat Williams. Only a narrow 19, -21, -12 loss to 3rd-place finisher Bob Burke kept him from winning the Championship.
Other winners: A’s: (Double Elimination) Jones over Williams and a split with Jeffries. B’s: (DE) Dawson over Donn Olsen and Walsh. C’s: (DE): Travis Eiles over Terry Travis and Olsen. Novice: Mark Bradley over Mary Dunagin.
Winners at the Dec. 2-3 Tulsa Yasaka Open: Men’s: Roland Rittmaster over Jose Marin. Women’s: Marilyn Johnston over Kathy then Karin Thompson. Women’s Doubles: Johnston/Karin Thompson over Kathy Thompson/Barby Jones. A’s: David Babcock over Larry Kesler. A Doubles: Kirk Golbach/Babcock over Marin/Vern Eisenhour. B’s: Bob Shaha over Don Wilson. B Doubles: Gilbreath/Joe Ogilvie over Kenny Holmes/Golbach, def. C’s: Holmes over Steve Finney. D’s: Freddie Marchena over Trent LeForce, 25-23 in the 5th. D Doubles: Marchena/Field over Lori Proctor/Jones, 21, 15, -22, -19, 16. E’s: Virgil Watkins over John Bryan. F’s: Proctor over J. Brown. Consolation: Colin Abrams over Lou Coates. Over 50: Cliff Smith over Rudy Crawford. Over 40: Eisenhour over Kesler. Senior Doubles: Kesler/Eisenhour over Coates/Crawford. U-17: Rittmaster over Golbach. Junior A’s: Marchena over Brian Thomas in 5. Junior Doubles: Holmes/Marchena over LeForce/Golbach. U-15: Rittmaster over Johnston, 18 in the 3rd. U-13: LeForce over Karin Thompson. U-11: Reed Kyker over David Smith.
According to John Stillions’ first Topics write-up, the Skublicki-Hall Memorial Open, held in little Wisner, Neb. Nov. 18-19, “drew around 70 players from Neb., Iowa, Minn., Missouri, Kans., & South Dakota. (John Soderberg came all the way from California to play in the Regional U.S. Team Tryouts held in conjunction with this tournament.)”
Results: R.R. semifinal: 1. Todd Petersen, who “played unbelievably well under pressure,” 23, 12-21, 22 over Soderberg in the semi’s, then 16, -21, 22, 19 over Stillions who’d 15, 21, -15, -22, 18 won his semi’s from Houshang Bozorgzadeh. Petersen also finished first in the Regional Tryouts with a perfect 11-0 record. A’s: Scott Butler over Sheila O’Dougherty, 18 in the 3rd. B’s: Mitch Seidenfeld over Jerry Gustafson, def. C’s: Jeff Brills over Mike Zdan, deuce in the 3rd. D’s: Carl Miller over Larry Haden. Junior’s: Butler over Roland Rittmaster who’d advanced by Seidenfeld, 22, 19.
We learn from Tom Walsh (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1979, 22) that because of the Nebraska-Oklahoma football game, the Omaha “Occult” Open was sparsely attended. Actually two tournaments were held—a serious one, and a fun one, complemented by the attention-getting football game that was being shown on a TV in the hall. Associate the serious one with Todd Petersen who won every event he entered, including the Hard Bat. And the fun one with what was being billed as the “Occult World Championships—where worthies competed in “Mini-Bat-Singles, Other-Hand-Singles, Three-Legged-Doubles, and One-Paddle-Doubles. Those who entered these events enjoyed them with raucous gusto at times—almost as much as they liked our pizza and beer party after the games.”
There was no stopping Todd in the Championship event—though runner-up Tom Walsh played him a 19 first game. ‘Walsh’s strategy was to push and pick to Todd’s backhand….Todd just could not hit his backhand in often enough, so he found himself moving quickly to his backhand side to try to hit forehands. But that left his forehand side vulnerable to Walsh’s quick pushes that set up loose returns for Tom to pick-hit in.
Other results: Open Doubles: Petersen/Mike Zdan over Walsh/Jerry Gustafson, deuce in the 3rd. A’s: Walsh over Ron Bull who got past Bob Gellner but was “apparently puzzled by Walsh’s changes of spin.” A Doubles: Zdan/Gustafson over Walsh/Kermit Risch. B’s: Gustafson over Ethelanne Risch. “Jerry has added an effective down-the-line forehand to his solid defensive game.” Senior’s: Walsh over Don Ehrismann. Jr. U-17: Daylin Risch, helped by some coaching from Mark Kennedy, over older brother Doyle. U-15/U-13: Daylin Risch over Steve Kirby. Hard Bat: Petersen over Walsh, 28-26 in the 3rd (from down 20-16). Mini-Bat: Rod Cowles (who’s played mini-bat exhibitions around the city) over Ed Collins. “Both players made fascinating shots that seemed impossible with such small bats.” Three-Legged-Doubles (teammates are tied together): Cowles/Chrismann over Freudenburg/Judy Libowski (“the teams’ antics trying to reach shots were side-splitting”). Other-Hand-Singles: Topeka’s Carl Miller over Kermit Risch.
Winners at the Wisconsin Winter Open, played Dec. 9 at Milwaukee: Open Singles semifinal R.R. 1. Danny Seemiller, 3-0 (d. R. Seemiller, 14, -19, 21, 12; d. Lazarus, 8, 8, 14; d. Malek, 15, 15, 6). 2. Ricky Seemiller, 2-1 (d. Lazarus, 11, 18, 19; d. Malek, 15, 19, 20). 3. Jim Lazarus, who’d advanced over Brandon Olson, -11, 5, -19, 22, 21, 1-2 (d. Malek, 13, 17, -13, 17). 4. Attila Malek, 0-3. Lazarus and one of his teammates, Joe Yoon, had just come off strong performances at the USOTC’s. Jim had a win over Eric Boggan. And Joe, in five of their team ties, had won the climactic ninth match. Women’s: 1. Cheryl Dadian, 3-0 (d. Ide, 16, -15, 13). 2. Grace Ide, 2-1 (d. Leeman, -20, 10, 17; d. Liu, def.). 3. Faan Yeen Liu, 1-2 (d. Leeman, 7, 8). 4. Anita Leeman, 0-3.
A’s: Faan Yeen Liu over Norm Schless, def.. A Doubles: Geoff Graham/Mike Hoffland over Dadian/Liu, -22, 18, 18. B’s: Norb Falkenstein over Tor Hallaraker, after Tor had eliminated Joe Mayer, 23-21 in the 3rd. C’s: C.T. Cauthen over Chuck Pelky. D’s: L. Lusardi over Stephen Rue, 18 in the 3rd. E’s: Caroline Schweinert over Peter Schweinert who’d advanced by Hank Widdick, -13, 19, 18. Handicap: Faan Yeen Liu over Peter Stomma. Senior’s: Joe Bujalski over Schless, def. U-17: Jeff Brills over Hallaraker. U-15: Scott Orth over P. Schweinert.
Tom McEvoy reports that at the Nov. 11 Furniture City Open in Grand Rapids, “Dell and Connie Sweeris, having recently come out of retirement, competed, and Dell swept to victory in the Open Singles semifinal round robin….The #2 seed, Wayne Wasielewski, lost a tough 19 in the 5th match to Larry Wood, but won a deuce in the 5th match from Jim Doney.” Doney, however, was too tired to complete the round robin against Wood, so Larry took 2nd-Place money.
Other results: Open Doubles: Mike Moriarty/John Huizinga over Wood/Doney. A’s: Pat Cox over Connie Sweeris, then over Doney. B’s: Ian Mailing over Bill Hornyak. C’s: Virgil Miller over Ernie Bauer. C Doubles: Chris Wibbelman/Wood over McEvoy/C.J. Williams. D’s: Mark Merritt over Steve Plotkin. Handicap: Jeff Freeman over Doney. Novice: Bruce Lee over Ross Sanders. Beginner’s: Wibbelman over Dan Richardson. U-17: Doney over Torsten Pawlowski. Senior’s: Bill Hornyak over Gunter Pawlowski, 19, -10, 19.
Hornyak was the Jan.-Feb., 1979 Topics’ “Senior of the Month.” Here’s what Red Griggs in his Dec. 23, 1978 Michigan City, IN News-Dispatch article had to say about Bill:
“…Hornyak had open heart surgery early in February at St. Catherine’s Hospital in East Chicago to correct a heart blockage. Doctors said his secondary heart valves, which had been built up by his table tennis playing, had taken over much of the load of the blocked main vessels. This contributed to his quick recovery….
Hornyak had started playing table tennis at the South Bend YMCA when he was ‘9 or 10.’ By the time he was 19 he was the No. 1 player at the South Bend ‘Y’ and had won his first table tennis medal. He was hit by rheumatic fever in 1938, but made a rather rapid recovery—thanks largely to the exercise he got playing table tennis. ‘I was playing basketball again within three years,’ Hornyak said. By 1942, he was ranked 24th in the nation in Men’s Singles—but he retired from the tournament tour in 1943 to start a business (Home Heating & Cooling Co., in which he is still a partner) and raise a family in Michigan City.
He stayed away from the game (at least at the tournament level) for more than 25 years, returning in 1971 as a result of an exhibition at Marquette Mall by a Michigan couple, Dell and Connie Sweeris….Using a hard rubber paddle, he didn’t win a tournament match for more than a year—but he started winning again when he changed to a soft-rubber ‘anti-spin’ paddle.” [Since then his major achievements have been…reaching the final of the 1976 Closed Senior A Doubles with Bruce McGee; reaching the final of the Over 60’s in both the 1977 Hollywood U.S. Open and the 1977 Vegas U.S. Closed.]…
Bill and his wife, Liz, have two grown sons, Bill, Jr. and Steve Hornyak. Bill is the chief juvenile officer of the South Bend court system, and Steve operates the S & H Motor Lodge in Michigan City.
Hornyak’s main interest now (besides table tennis) is an Ivy Tech teaching job at Indiana State Prison. He’s teaching air-conditioning, heating and refrigeration to inmates, and is proud of his role in rehabilitation. [Once, he told me, he’d had a tool stolen, but when he took a hard, no nonsense line, threatened to cancel the course if it wasn’t returned, it mysteriously appeared next day, and no questions were asked.] He says many of his former inmate students are either working in the heating-refrigeration trade or attending ‘civilian’ schools.
After Bill got out of the hospital following his open-heart surgery, his students (and other instructors) gave him an autographed table tennis paddle with the words ‘This will make you No. 1’ inscribed on it.” [As we’ll see, “they knew what they were talking about!”]
In doing the write-up (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 22) for the “largest table tennis happening in the history of the state”—the Oct. 28-29 $1,000 Louisville Open—Rick Craig thanks “Charlie Buckley for his diligence behind the control desk, and Tom Allen for his vision of popularizing table tennis in Louisville.”
In the Open, on one side of the draw, Insook Bhushan, “recently back from the Women’s Invitational Goodwill Games in South Korea [a tournament you’ll read about in an upcoming chapter],…lost only one game on her road to the final—to 17-year-old John Allen.” In the quarter’s, she downed Paul Pashuku; and in the semi’s, Jim Lazarus, who’d advanced in 5 over Dick Hicks. On the other side of the draw, Jim Davey, before losing in 4 to Attila Malek, scored a big upset over Dell Sweeris who complained, “I just can’t find the ball.”
The final was “a classic confrontation between looper and chopper…spiced up because the two had never met before. A particularly exciting first point stirred the spectators as Attila looped, looped, dropped, and looped again to win the point. But the great match we had all hoped for never materialized, for Insook ripped off 9 straight points and took the first game at 12. [Then easily won the next two.] She seemed to bring back every loop, and Attila lacked a point-winning flat hit. Sloppy drop shots added to Attila’s problem, for Insook devoured very one of them with super pick-hitting off both sides.”
Other results: Women’s: Faan Yeen Liu, scoring on picks, upset Connie Sweeris in straight games. Open Doubles: Malek/Pashuku over Bhushan/Sweeris. Mixed Doubles: Bhushan/Homer Brown over Jim Davey/Grace Ide who’d eliminated Dick and Norma Hicks, deuce in the 4th. A’s: Jim Schnorf over Brown (from down 2-0) in the final. “Homer, who used to live in Louisville before moving to Nashville, as usual captured the imagination of the crowd. “After one spectacular point, Homer, who’d been lobbing. lobbing, lobbing, only finally to miss, leaned over a barrier and gasped, ‘What in the name of Jesus can I do?!!!”
B’s: Eric Seiler over Allen, 18 in the 5th. Semi’s: Seiler over Faan Yeen Liu, 18 in the 5th (from down 2-0 and at deuce in the 3rd); Allen over Syed Kadry. B Doubles: Shekhar Bhushan/John Dichiaro over Seiler/Tom Pohlman C’s: Pohlman over Kris Pangburn. D’s: Gordon Alstott over Mike Robinson who’d eliminated David Phelps in 5 (from down 2-0). E’s: D Abbott over Phelps. Consolation: Jim Flannagan over Dwight Mitchell. Hard Rubber: Harry Deschamps over Pangburn. U-21: Jeff Williams over Faan Yeen Liu (from down 2-0). U-17: Pohlman over R.J. Allen. U-15: George Brewer over J Cable. Esquire’s: Deschamps over George Hendry in 4. Senior’s: Deschamps over Hendry, 19 in the 4th.
It may be that John Messerly, a St. Louis tournament player from 1969-74 (he said he had wins over both my sons at the 1970 USOTC’s), accompanied Hendry to this Louisville Open. In a Dec. 24, 2008 e-mail to me, he said he hadn’t given up tt completely at this time, had hung out at the St. Louis Club, “mostly playing poker in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.” Back in ’73-’74, John said he played about even with Larry Chisolm, “who was coached as a kid by Bill Price, and was my coach.” From ’75-’77 John didn’t compete, but when he came back in ’78 just before George Hendry decided to un-retire and dominate local play, he won the Missouri State Championships over Seiler and Rittmaster.
“I became great friends with George Hendry,” John said, “and spent a lot of time practicing with him when he came back to table tennis in ’78. We played a lot of golf together and I have stayed in contact with him over the years. He is one of the finest men I have ever known, a true gentleman and one of the great U.S. table tennis players ever. The man walked into the club at nearly 60 years old, hadn’t hit a ball in 30 years and was a 2100 player in about 8-10 weeks. Amazing.”
John gave up table tennis to increasingly concentrate on school, earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy, and taught at various schools. He thinks he may move to Seattle, and, if it really rains there as much as he’s heard it does, he may play less golf and—who knows?—not just read my volumes on the Association’s web site (“I want you to know I enjoy immensely your History of U.S. Table Tennis”) but may come back and play a little table tennis—perhaps with the gentlemanly Dr. Scott?
In the Kentucky Closed at Castlewood Park, John Allen won the Open Singles, 3-0 over Jai Prasad. Women’s went to Nga Nguyen over Karen Richardson, also 3-0. Open Doubles: Prasad/Ron Shodham over Buckley/Syed Kadry. A’s: Dwight Mitchell over Allen, def. B’s: Paul Mills over Denver Bush. C’s: Don Lafferty over Bruce Logan. D’s: Bush over Jordan Michaelson, 19 in the 5th. Girls U-17: Molly Blayney over C. Meyers. Girls U-15: Blayney over Wendy Brown. Boys U-17: Allen over Mills, -17, -20, 23, 12, 15. Boys U-15: Cliff Maywieser over Jim Cable. U-17 Doubles: Eddie Rahardia/Mills over Matt/Wayne Turner. Esquire’s: Ted Friedman over Robert Halliday. Senior’s: Friedman over Lafferty in 5.
Friedmann, who’s “worked with the city rec department for 20 years,” says that “when the average basement ping-pongers see the one or two tournament players we have (with their fifteen-foot serves and screwy sponge surfaces) they leave and never come back. It’s like you’ve got two completely different sports, ping-pong and tournament table tennis.” Like? For 20 years how many of those rec players Ted’s come in contact with cared anything at all about real table tennis, about the USTTA, regardless of what rackets serious tournament players use? Apples and oranges, Ted. Apples and oranges. So it’s always been, always will be.
Winners in the Oct. 28 Mississippi Closed: Championship Singles: Robert Chamoun (for the 3rd time) over (former Champion) Julian Wright. Women: Linda Weisling over Kimberly Walsh. Championship Doubles: Chamoun/Mike Pritchard over Joe Ferguson/Wright. A’s: Vance Kelly over W.V. Plue. A Doubles: Don Dorsey/Osie Singleton over Herb Bennett/Billy Joe Varner. Novice: Bill Long over Glen Purvis. Junior’s: Hune Hung “Ricky” Moon over Will Hemphill.
Larry Buell (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 24) again covers the Atlanta T.T. scene—this time it’s the Oct. 7-8 $1,300 Fall Open. Greg Gingold won the Championship Singles in straight games over Ron Rigo. But there were other well-contested matches. Best quarter’s: Brian Masters over Larry Thoman in 5 (from down 2-0), and Ron Rigo over Thomas Nunes in 5. Semi’s: Greg Gingold over Steve Rigo, 5, 20, 20, and Ron Rigo over Masters, 26-24 in the 5th. “Ronny played superbly, cleverly mixing up his topspins and often befuddling the usual imperturbable Masters.” Championship Doubles: Masters/Bowie Martin, Jr. over Cornell Gavris/Thoman, deuce in the 4th. Women’s: Nancy Newgarden over Marti Williamson.
A’s: Steve Rigo over Thoman. B’s: Jim Flannagan over Scott Leamon who’d gotten by Steve Federico in 5. B Doubles: Denis Fritchie/Hugh Lax over Federico/Mark Gibson, 23-21 in the 4th. C’s: Mitch Stephens over Alan Averill, -19, 19, 9, then over Fritchie. D’s: Ed Baker over Steve Mills. E’s: Gerald Harris over Bob Ervin. F’s: David Loy over Mike Stowell, 24, -10, 19. G’s: Joe Butler over Williamson. Consolation’s: Bernie Braun over Wing Man Tam. Esquire’s: John White over Jim Holcomb. Senior’s: Cyril Lederman over Larry Bartley. Senior A’s: Norbert Braun over Roger Baldner. Junior A’s: Greg Cox over Roger Babcock. Junior Singles: Rigo over Masters in 5. “Masters, whose best game derives from his own carefully varied returns to a strong offense, was visibly upset by his inability to react aggressively enough to the continual change of pace Ronny introduced into each game. These two matches Brian lost to Ronny may persuade him to develop a stronger attack to combat the only slightly perceptible chink in his game—quick put-away cracks that would deny him his carefully-staged, wait-for-the-weak-return game plan.”
Tom Poston tells us (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 24) that going into the Oct. 28 Open played at the Butterfly Club in Wilson, N.C. “Fred King had not lost a match in a North Carolina tournament in a year. So who could have imagined that lightning would strike in the form of Mayland’s Larry Hodges, an 1841-sometimes-under-rated, sometimes-over-rated, but always dangerous competitor.” Larry played great, “was so pumped up (he always is, I’m told) that we were considering using tranquilizer darts on him. Anyway, exit Fred King, stunned and dejected. But what Fred couldn’t do with power, Jimmy-the-Kid McQueen did with craft and cunning”—he slipped by Larry in 4….Then he “generally pushed, dinked, angled, junked, looped (occasionally),” downing his friend Pete May in the process, and “psyched his way into the finals to lose 19 in the 4th to 14-year-old Masters.
Tom said that “no one could remember a tournament with so many phantom, feint, slime, and whatever (on one side only, of course) assaulting the sanity of traditional-minded players…There was so much racket-twirling that spectators must have thought the players were practicing for a baton contest. Like Alice said in that other Wonderland, “Curiouser and curiouser.”
Women’s went to Melba Martin over both Yvonne Kronlage and Jean Poston. Melba, I’d like to add, went to New York with Pam Ramsey to publicize Maybelline Nail Color in a 90-second TV tape. The pitch was that Maybelline Nail Color is “so tough it bounces back instead of breaking.” To prove their point, Maybelline had a table tennis ball coated with their nail color and had Melba and Pam, coated with TV make-up, play for three hours off and on, and, sure enough, the ball didn’t crack or break.
Other Butterfly Open results: A’s: Ron Lilly over Clyde Vincent. B’s: Clyde Vincent over Bowie Martin, Jr. C’s: David Loy over Bob Ervin. D’s: Marius Vincent over Melba Martin. Senior’s winner: Erle Davis. Under 13 winner: Marius Vincent. Under 15 Girls winner: Esperanza Vincent. Under 15 Boys winner: Sean O’Neill. Under 17’s: O’Neill over Bowie Martin, Jr. Under 21’s: Randy Nedrow over Sean O’Neill in 5. According to Arizona’s Tony Martin, Randy “was formerly Arizona’s #2 player. Is now going to school at the University of North Carolina, majoring in architecture. He received a tennis scholarship and plans to play baseball as well. His table tennis game features deceptive serves, paddle flipping, quick blocks, and an aggressive attack.”
Fred King wasn’t so stunned and dejected, says Poston (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1979, 24), that he couldn’t, the following month at the Wilson Butterfly Club, successfully defend his N.C. State Closed title. But just barely—with the aid of a “calculator, clicking and ticking, as it added up games won and lost. King lost to Nedrow; Nedrow lost to Bowie Martin, Jr.; Martin, Jr. lost to Walter Wintermute. So nobody, including King, is head and shoulders above the others in N.C. anymore. A’s went to young Bowie over Greg Cox, winner of the B’s and C’s. Robert Byrd, 13, took the D’s. Most promising young player is the cherubic-looking David Agner, 12, the Under 15/Under 13 Champ. “David has abundant natural talent, but so far he has had almost no coaching—and therefore his game remains awkward….Still, a remarkable combination of determination, unshakeable concentration, and outstanding self-control allows him to win.”
At the Dec. 2 Butterfly Winter Open held at the Wilson Club, Poston writes (TTT, Jan.-Feb., 1979, 24) that King was again vulnerable…but he won, downing Wintermute in the final in straight games. The spotlight here, however, went to two lesser luminaries:
“Long, lean-and-mean Denny Stanley, a native of Durham, whose textbook strokes from both wings and whose Johansson-like forehand (occasionally, at least) make him a dangerous opponent for anyone, was having himself a good tournament after a prolonged slump. And to challenge him, down from the hills of Tennessee, came Jim Flannagan, ‘Dr. Feint’…whose acrobatic returns of Stanley’s building-leveling smashes brought repeated applause from the audience. Spectacular was the word for it all. Stanley would repeatedly loft his 6’4” frame into the air to bazooka apparently unreturnable kills, and Flannagan would persistently return them at the expense of trampling barriers (and threatening to trample fans brave—or foolhardy—enough to sit near the rear barricades). Eventually all play ceased on the other 7 tables as, one by one, the players joined the ranks of enthusiastic spectators.” To most in the audience it hardly mattered who won, but eventually Denny did.
Other results: A’s: Bowie Martin, Jr. over James Gatling. B’s: Bowie Martin, Sr. over Wendell Dillon. C’s: Lewis Bragg over Jack Staylor in 5 (from down 2-0). D’s: Jean Poston over Paul Ng. Senior’s: Erle Davis over Bowie Martin, Sr. U-21’s: Martin, Jr. over Stanley. U-17’s: Martin, Jr. over Greg Cox. U-15’s: David Agner over Robert Byrd.
Winners at the Oct. 7-8 Philadelphia Open: Open Singles: Final: Charles Butler over Roger Sverdlik, 18, 20, -17, 16. Semi’s: Butler over Eric Boggan, 23, -19, 18, 22; Sverdlik over Rich Farrell, 18, -17, 18, 17. Quarter’s: Butler over Hank McCoullum in 4; Boggan over Parviz Mojaverian in 4; Farrell over Mike Bush in 4; Sverdlik over Enoch Green in 4. A’s: Igor (Gary) Fraiman over Joe Tanzer who’d advanced over Paul Rubas in 5. B’s: Louise Nieves over Don Feltenberger after Don had come from 2-1 down to escape Craig Bowman in 5.
This Open Singles grouping needs only to be reunited with Stan Smolanowicz and Ray Arditi to replay some memorable moments. Stan, whom Ray said coached Mike Bush to a somewhat similar game, went on to pursue other interests. Parviz tells me he became “a 2500-level competitive Salsa/Rumba dancer,” and, uh, “a true urban vampire, chasing women [and apparently catching them].” Ray takes that bit of news a couple of steps further. In a June 27, 2006 e-mail to me, he says, “Stan has more moves than John Travolta and years ago was inducted into the Disco Hall of Fame….Stanley’s Basement was totally underground (and you had to be a hard-core t.t. junkie to get in, I made sure of that).”
But Stan’s club, unlike Ray’s open-to-the-public Liberty Bell one, had advantages that allowed it to survive. “It had a steady flow of Stanley’s beautiful girl friends, dancers, dance parties…a beautiful hardwood dance floor with mirrors, pulsating disco, salsa and ballroom melodies, a comfortable living room with TV, plants, and European décor, a dehumidifier, a clean bathroom, ‘Pebbles’ the cat, an unlimited supply of Double Fish TT balls, and close proximity to Da shen’s, a popular Chinese restaurant, and the Granite Run Mall.”
Stan told Ray that when Rich Farrell visited his home “he once ate a dozen hot dogs and a dozen scrambled eggs.” And both Ray and Parviz have things to tell me about Farrell’s other compulsions. Parviz, in a June 19, 2006 e-mail says, “I’ll never forget the night that Richard had to play against Roger Sverdlik….Before the match, I told Richard to take it easy and be relaxed and just play his game that he always played against me, and that he will win for sure…. But he was nervous, and, as he always did when he was nervous, he started to warm up by running up and down the steps (3 or 4 floors!). By the time he had to play the match, he was so tired that he couldn’t move at all, and he lost easily, 3-0!”
Ray, in a June 23, 2006 note, says, “Farrell, a self-taught master of sports psychofeedback, wouldn’t sleep most of the night when he returned from the Liberty Bell TTC. He couldn’t fall asleep because he had to replay all his matches in his mind to go over his opponent’s moves and tactics, so he could develop his counter-moves and more effective strategies. (And this could take a while because Richard played lots of matches.) He probably had enough information on the late Bill Sharpe, Parviz Mojaverian, and “Spin Wizard” Enoch Green to write manuals on them, complete with diagrams and illustrations. Ray tells me Enoch “was extremely health conscious”—had his own idiosyncrasies regarding the healing properties of gemstones and crystals. “Provolone cheese,” Enoch said, “was the least toxic of all the cheeses.” Maybe Enoch talked about Green vegetables too, but Ray remembers specifically this advice: “by adding some red pepper to my diet I could neutralize a lot of the toxic meat I was eating.” {Better not to eat so much of the toxic meat to begin with, yes?)
Ray said Rich came to “use his loop sparingly (and more as the introduction to a telling barrage of flat-hits). He claimed to have eight different ways to flat-hit his forehand.” Ray didn’t think Rich “smoked or drank alcohol. He first turned to drugs when the woman he loved jilted him, leaving him a total basket case.” But he recovered…for a while. “Every spring he would take one month off from his busy do-nothing-but-play-tt & screw schedule for a one-month cleanse….He would go in his Sacouny running shoes out to Fairmount Park and sprint/jog as he went on a juice cleanse. He was 10 pounds lighter [had resisted the manicotti he so liked], was in great shape and feeling high after the cleanse. Then he could go back to playing table tennis and ‘feeding his nut’ (one of his pet expressions) to build up his stamina in the bedroom. “I got to feed my nut!” he would exclaim.”
He apparently followed this obsessive-compulsive behavior all his table tennis life—and it would lead to a horrific end for him. But not for 12 years yet, so, we’ll see, maybe I won’t write about it.
The Dec. 9-10 pre-National’s Westfield Open was won by Dave Sakai, who also won the Oct. and Nov. Westfield Opens. Earlier in finals, he’d beaten Mike Stern, then Roger Sverdlik, both 3-0. This time it was visiting Swede Mats Backstrom—though Dave had quite a bit of -15, 18, 19, 19 trouble with him. In his semi’s, after losing the first two games, Sakai beat Scott Boggan who, down 20-12 in the 5th, was disqualified. Would that someone had written down why that happened. Mats escaped Charles Butler in 5, then, in his semi’s, downed Robert Earle, 23, 18, -13, 19. Open Doubles (played only in Dec.) went to Sverdlik/Scott Boggan over Peter Stephens/George Brathwaite who’d squeaked by Stern/Ali Oveissi, deuce in the 3rd. Women’s (played only in Dec.): Alice Green over Dana Gvildys.
Other results: A’s (won in Oct. and Nov. by M.L. Shum over, first, Paul Rubas, then Lenny Klein): Jonathan Katz over Ralph Bockoven, 22, 18, 19. A Doubles: Tim Boggan/Brad Lardon over John Sisti/Brian Eisner. B’s (won in Nov. by Louise Nieves over John Markson, 20, -20, 18, then over Andy Diaz, -17, 19, 18): Rubas over Haig Raky, -18, 20, 19, 17. C’s: Brad Lardon (who’d lost the Oct. U-1725’s to Steve Rosenfield) over Greg Robertshaw. D’s: Klein over Robertshaw who’d advanced by Barry Dattel, 19 in the 3rd. E’s: Joe Campbell over Chris Lehman. Semi’s: Campbell over Tony Gegelys, 19, 21; Lehman over David Kilpatrick, -18, 20, 18. F’s: G. Marrero over C. Caines. Esquire’s (played only in Dec.): Marcy Monasterial over George Chotras, then Klein. Senior’s: Monasterial over Klein. U-17: Markson (who’d lost this final in Oct. to Ben Nisbet) over Lardon in 5. U-15: Lardon over Marko Popovich, after Marko had eliminated Jeff Pedicini, 19 in the 3rd. U-13: David Gonzalez over Martin Klein.
Winners at the Nov. 4-5 Slippery Rock Open: Open: Howie Bush over Dan Rzewnicki. Women: Joanne Jamison over Daria Motter. A’s: Mike Walsh over Lance Falke. B’s: Harry Hawk over Rzewnicki. C’s: Dave Demay over Art Rupp. D’s: Jim Clark over Pat Herman. E’s: Todd Ingram over Mike Baslor. Novice: Tom Burik over Rich Logan.
Two reports (TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 25) on the Oct. 14-15 Gateway Classic at Frostburg, MD: first, Director Jim Williams sharing some of his thoughts; then Mike Bush on the play.
A two day tournament over at 7:00 Sunday night! Why, asked Jim, weren’t there more entries? We expected 150—but only 60 showed. We thought that “1500-1900 players” would welcome the prize money we provided for them, but they didn’t come. It was the top players who put up with less than perfect playing conditions—the absence of barriers, for example—and other inconveniences. “George Brathwaite, a super man (two words) had to sleep in his car, there was ‘no room at the Inn’—but his star would rise to great heights…..The Seemiller brothers had two exhibitions canceled at local high schools (some testing program interfered). They took it great—a special thanks to them.” Also, there was a “lack of spectators on a day when the campus was full of people. My fault—not many posters.”
But there were some pluses. “The programs did get printed. The tables weren’t circling Moosejaw….The Frostburg State College gave us a good gym, lighting and all. The insurance company agreed to wait for payment. The players played when called on; the losers didn’t ruin the table edges”—my thanks to all of them. “Also, the Western Maryland T.T. Club members helped with their time, talent, and treasure”—an assist I greatly appreciated.
Here’s Bush’s opening:
“An hour in historical Frostburg-Cumberland, Maryland, and, dammit, we still couldn’t find our tourney hotel! It was late and we were tired—just wanted to bed down. As we made another wrong turn, Tim, driving, let out one of his periodic ‘___’s!’ Whereupon Eric, outraged at such a show of emotion, yelled, ‘___yourself, Tim! Yelling will accomplish nothing!’
Faan Yeen Liu (who was traveling with us—she’d been in New York, getting herself ready for the U.S. Team Tryouts two months away) kept searching, searching, searching, trying to find even the semblance of a hotel. Finally, with her help, we found the intersection where the hotel supposedly rested—but no hotel. Nothing. Only a decrepit, run-down building to the right. The hotel, where is it? Almost simultaneously we all peered to the right, No, no—please, no. But there it stood—the Algonquin Hotel. We all looked at each other. Well, it’s late Friday night, Homecoming Weekend—what choice do we have, let’s park….
“Saturday morning there were some fiery first-round matches: Roger Sverdlik over Perry Schwartzberg, Scott Boggan over Rory Brassington, and Mike Lardon, in the tournament’s first upset, coming from 2-0 down, over David Philip. In the 2nd round more fireworks: Bush over Charles Butler, Scott over Randy Seemiller, and (surprise, even Dan felt the heat as Tim, fist up, roaring, cracked in more than one forehand before rounding the table with the 1st game under his belt) Seemiller over Boggan.”
In one quarter’s match, “Roger started out strong against Danny, keeping him off balance with forceful backhands and powerful loops. He had an ad in the 1st before losing, then won the 2nd. As the match wore on, though, Roger tired and got angled more and more out of position and was forced into chopping—which Dan of course took advantage of by zipping in loops for winners.
“In my quarter’s match with Scott he had it pretty easy. I’d been playing with pips recently, trying to stay up at the table more and hoping for a better hitting and blocking backhand. Scott, attacking my backhand pips with his own, forced me into error after error. This combined with his good flat hit and containing block of my loop was quite enough to do me in.”
“Ricky went out in 5 to a determined Brathwaite. ‘The Chief,’ playing great, was just very consistent in coming back to win the 4th and 5th games.
Eric, playing visiting Swede Mats Backstrom, though down in every game and not always playing seriously enough, won in 4.”
“The semifinal round robin was greatly appreciated by the players—for any tourney Dan plays in leaves the players in his half no chance at 2nd prize. And in this tournament ($400, $175, $50, $50), if you didn’t come 2nd, there was no chance even to make expenses.
Actually, the chances of being in Dan’s half are hardly ever 50-50—for most tournaments, Fox-drawn or not, arbitrarily separate Dan and Rick into opposite halves. Rick over the past year, especially when ‘foreign’ players are in the draw, has consistently been 3rd (or 4th) seed, leaving the other seed with the knowledge that he knows where he can go—into Dan’s half. Eric, for almost all of last year, was that other seed….Directors, though it isn’t advertised, must get all the involved players’ approval to run a semifinal round robin. But since Dan and Rick usually don’t approve, it usually never comes off. [I question whether either Seemiller objects of late.]
In “The Chief” vs. Eric semi’s, George “just wasn’t missing. Eric couldn’t seem to get through with his loops and hits, and when he blocked short or dropped with his anti, George would come in and hit the ball, often for a winner. In this match, Eric, as in his earlier match with the Swede, just didn’t have his usual intensity, his strong will to win. He’s had other things on his mind—school, a proposed trip to Trinidad. This was his 6th straight tournament weekend and he was experiencing an unusual lack of concentration. His racket, which he considered too fast (or was it too slow?) added to his problems. He went down swinging, 19 in the 4th.”
“Now George, if he could win his match against Scott, would be guaranteed 2nd prize. And that was just the way it looked to happen as, again playing beautifully, “The Chief” took the first two games. Moreover, Scott, down in the 3rd, was noticeably upset and mumbling to himself. He had had it with George’s never-ending, fist-raised, warrior- chief’s victory dance which followed all points won.”
“Suddenly then, Scott looked deep into himself and somehow decided he just couldn’t, mustn’t lose—just had to win this match. With screaming, fist-up ‘Yeah’s!’ he hurled his shots at George—and turned the 3rd game his way with pure fight. Then he rallied from 15-10 and 19-16 down in the 4th. And within the first few points of the 5th, Scott was joyfully telling himself out loud, ‘Oh, you’ve got him!’ And thereafter began getting more and more confident with every shot. Smiling, skipping, even running to pick up the ball, he finally took a crushing lead by killing ball after ball. Game and match to Scott 21-12.”
“Since Danny had beaten both Scott and Eric and, it was assumed, would take down George, interest focused on 2nd place, especially since the two rival Boggan brothers were playing one another. If Scott beat Eric, he would of course come second. In fact, if Scott won two games he would come 2nd providing George did not take a game from Danny. As for Eric, he thought if he beat Scott three straight he could still come 2nd, but in this he was mistaken….Anyway, as George watched interestedly, the brothers played their typical match—occasionally yelling at each other and professing never to understand how the other could be so nets-and-edges lucky.”
Scott seems to have a bad game to play Eric—needs, I think, a stronger loop. Scott’s up-to-the-table blocking, exchanging and hitting game just doesn’t cut no ice against younger brother. Eric blocks the ball low and quick and in this match at least never gave Scott the balls he likes to crack. Time after time, Scott would get driven back from the table, leaving himself with no shot—no shot but a defensive one to win the point. That might have worked a year or so ago, but now against a fast-growing bigger and stronger Eric it just ain’t a healthy strategy. Match to Eric (19, 11, -20, 16).”
“Which certainly must have pleased George, for now he was automatically second without even playing Danny. He just took the $175 he’d earned and that was that.”
“A lot of us then headed for all-out accommodating Director Jim Williams—and, sure enough, he invited us to his home to drink a few beers and catch the last few innings of the Sox-Yankees Series game before going out for dinner and driving the long drive home.”
Other results: Women’s: Faan Yeen Liu over Donna Newell. Open Doubles: Seemiller/Seemiller over Bush/E. Boggan. A’s: Mike Lardon over Tim Boggan, 17, -21, 19, 14. B’s: Mike Shapiro over Chi Chung. C’s: Chung over Ron Snyder, 26-24 in the 4th. Semi’s: Chung over Pat O’Neill in 5; Snyder over TONY KHAN, deuce in the 4th. (As we’ll see in a moment, Tony has, real bad luck, but a week to live—he dies, I heard, in a motorcycle accident.) C Doubles: Vic McCoy/Clyde Alvey over Richard Shrout/Newell. D’s: Jackie Heymann over Peter Neal, 17, -12, 19, 18. E’s: Jess Rosenthal over Dan Piper, -16, -15, 12, 24, 16, then over Todd Ingram who’d advanced over K.V. Nguyen in 5. F’s: Rosenthal over L.T. Nguyen (from down 2-0). Senior’s: Brathwaite over Boggan. U-17’s: Sean O’Neill over Shapiro. U-17A’s: Ingram over Allen James. U-15’s: O’Neill over Ingram.
“In Memory of Tony Khan” appeared in TTT, Nov.-Dec., 1978, 11. A remembrance written by his mother Jeanne, it’s reproduced in entirety here:
“Page 14 of the Sept.-Oct., 1978 Topics shows:
1651 KHAN, TONY
Tony died at age 21 on Oct. 22, 1978 in West Virginia. He talked with me the night before about being down on his game at the Eliminations in Maryland and I reminded him of the many trophy ‘first’s’ he’d won—at Okinawa, or in Japan, or at Ft. Devens, Mass., or at Vint Hill Farm Station, Virginia (where he was stationed with the U.S. Army Intelligence Command), or at the Waltham, Mass. Table Tennis Club, or the Washington, D.C. Table Tennis Club, of which he was a member.
His improving attempts to perfect the Danny Seemiller style and the time he spent with several other expert players at clinics, together with his almost weekly trips to the Washington and Pittsburgh clubs, may suggest his dedication to table tennis.
Tony’s knowledge of and investment in equipment, his tutelage of a hundred or more other players before his graduation from Watertown High School in 1975 and during his army stint, made many skilled fans of the sport. He enlisted all his friends and relatives to call and/or write the Educational stations where there were table tennis matches; he commended Sports Illustrated for their coverage of the sport; he had all of us involved in sending money and letters to advance the public’s recognition of the skill, physical stamina, and self-discipline so necessary to table tennis.
Tony’s hobbies included: photography—many of his pictures were ‘action shots’ that showed the concentration, the sweat, the physical demands of the sport; chess—which he became a master of and which he believed contributed to his development as a strategic and tactically conscious table tennis player; tennis and other racquet sports—which he very much enjoyed; reading—a book a day…everything from the practical self-help kind (on positive thinking, for example) to imaginative, entertaining adventure stories; running—which showed the value he put on physical fitness; bike-riding—which included marathon racing on his ten-speeds (he had several); and motorcycling (he had a Yamaha). Tony also had explored martial arts, meditation, and music—he had been a horn player in the Watertown Cadets and Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps, and he owned the finest stereo.
His selection of the U.S. Army, and his membership in an elite Intelligence Corps, together with his life experiences and interests, allowed him to learn from and play with thousands of players. His love of the sport, his enthusiasm for it, his investment of time, money and energy, was contagious. He explained that table tennis represented the culmination of a long journey toward the right outlet for both his mental and physical strength.
I’ve met so many of his comrades in this sport, and I’ve continually supported this devoted fan’s search for the perfect stroke, the perfect smash, that now I ask that donations, in lieu of flowers, be made in his memory through Danny Seemiller, his friend and mentor. (Danny’s address is: 119 Ravilla Ave., Pittsburgh, PA. 15210.)
Finally, I wish to convey my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the Association, all readers of Table Tennis Topics, and all table tennis players everywhere—for, by their continuing interest in the sport, they helped my son, Tony Khan, have some of the happiest days of his short life.”