Grady Gordon, 73, just won his second straight National Over 70 Championship, to go along with his three straight U.S. Open Over 70 Championships. He’s the #1 ranked player in Over 70 in the U.S. (active players only). He’s now the dominant force in this event. So, what is left (other than the Over 75, starting with the 2001 U.S. Open)?

George Hendry.

George, 78, was Grady’s nemesis for many years, and was the dominant player in Over 70 before Grady came along. Grady’s never beaten him – but George hasn’t been to the Open or Nationals in a few years. That’s the only thing missing from Grady’s career. When they play, it’s a close match – Grady’s rated 2027, George 2057. The last time they played was in the Over 70 final at the Nationals in 1997, with George winning … 24-22 in the third!

Ali-Frazier. Borg-McEnroe. Evert-Navratilova. McGuire-Sosa. Gordon-Hendry.

Did I mention career, as in "table tennis career"? Actually, he’s had quite a career, has Dr. Grady Gordon. He was a general surgeon for 37 years, retiring about 18 months ago. (Grady was one of the doctors who helped the player who had a heart attack at the Nationals a few years ago.)

At this year’s Hendry-less Nationals in Las Vegas, Grady defeated Leon Ruderman in the Over 70 final, 21-19, 21-9. He defeated Harry Deschamps in the semifinals, 21-12, 21-13. Grady also teamed with fellow-Texan Jack "Buddy" Melamed to make the final of Over 70 Doubles, losing to Leon Ruderman/Y.C. Lee in the final.

Grady started out as a tennis player – or shall we call it "court table tennis"? He lettered on the tennis team at the University of Texas in 1945. Although he played table tennis recreationally for years (playing tennis in the summer, table tennis in the winter, mostly with his two older brothers), he didn’t play it seriously until the 1970s. He uses short pips on the forehand, long pips on the backhand, and is an all-around player, mostly chopping and pick-hitting. He described his style as a "Hey, Gordon, when are you going to hit one hard?" style, although he says he can hit hard when he needs to – but finds placement more important.

These days, he plays almost every day at 4 PM, playing nearly everyone at the Waco ("We ain’t coming out" – as Grady put it) Table Tennis Club.

Now that he’s retired, he has more time to do other things. He is president of Baylor Institute For Learning and Retirement, where classes are offered for retired or semi-retired people. The purpose of the institute, Grady said, is "…to get people to keep using their mind – or they’ll just vegetate and become couch potatoes."

He also likes to travel and read history – he is currently reading "Shadow of the President" by Carl Bernstein. He does aerobics three times a week. He is active as a patroller in Neighborhood Citizens on Patrol.

He’s been married for 47 years to his wife, Catherine, and has four children. One is in hardware. One is a urologist. One is a nuclear medical technologist. One is an attorney for 3M.

So what are the future plans of this man who soon will be battling for both the Over 70 and Over 75 crowns?

Gordon-Hendry. See your TV listings for local broadcast times.