In Memoriam - FERENC SIDO (1923-1998)

By USATT Historian Tim Boggan

Laszlo "Laci" Bellak recently had the sad duty to report that his ITTF Hall of Fame former countryman and long-time friend Ferenc Sido, a member of Hungary’s 1949 and ‘52 World Champion Swaythling Cup Team, and the 1953 World Men’s Singles Champion (and Runner-up in 1947 and ‘59), as well as the two-time World Men’s and four-time World Mixed Doubles Champion--in other words, the remarkable recipient of 9 World Championship "golds"--has finally succumbed to heart failure after years of fraught recovery from multiple bypass surgery.

A virtual unknown half a century ago at the 1947 first post-War World Championships in PAR-eese (as with his own European accent and impish charm he pronounced it), he advanced to the final after first being extended to 5 games in the second-round by U.S. ‘30’s star Sol Schiff and then going on to late-round wins over the Czech Ladislav Stipek, the Frenchman Michel Haguenauer, and three-time ‘40’s U.S. Champion Lou Pagliaro--all before losing to the legendary Czech Bohumil Vana, finalist in four of the five World Championships from 1938 through 1949.

In ‘48, Ferenc or "Feri" as five-time World Champion Victor Barna and others called him, fell in the 8th’s, 19 in the 4th, to perennial U.S. Champ Dick Miles, World’s Mixed Doubles Champion that year with Tybie Thall. In ‘49, he again lost in the 8th’s, to the eventual winner, England’s Johnny Leach. In ‘50, in Budapest where of course Sido most wanted victory, naturalized Englishman Richard Bergmann, on his way to winning his fourth and last World Singles Championship, beat him in the semi’s, in a 25-23 in the 4th nailbiter. In ‘51, Feri made the semi’s again--and again lost in a close 4-game match, to the Czech Ivan Andreadis, often regarded as the best player never to win a World Singles.

In ‘52, in Bombay, Sido was beaten in the quarter’s by--guess who?--Hiroji Satoh, and his strange, orange-colored sponge bat that brought the ball back so silently, steadily, and incalculably to his often psyched-out opponents. This little known Japanese would go on to win the Singles Championship and revolutionize the game.

Finally, in 1953, in Bucharest, after he’d escaped from being down 2-0 in the quarter’s to Frenchman Rene Roothoft, Sido, finishing off Stipek and Andreadis in straight games, won the Singles he’d so long been in contention for. In this World’s, too, in which he’d be remembered for being the last hard-bat Champion, he achieved the enviable "hat trick" of winning, in addition to the Singles, both the Men’s Doubles, with countryman Jozsef Koczian (as before he’d won with another countryman Ferenc Soos), and the Mixed, for the second time with Romanian World Women’s Champion Angelica Rozeanu (as before he’d won twice with Hungarian World Women’s Champion Gizi Farkas).

In ‘54, the Japanese, so conspicuously absent in Bucharest, were back--and for this World’s and the three following Ichiro Ogimura and Toshiaki Tanaka would take turns winning the Singles--Ogimura knocking out Defending Champion Sido here in London in the eighth’s.

In ‘55, Yugoslavia’s Zarko Dolinar added Sido’s name to his infamous skull-and-crossbones racket--though in the subsequent final against Tanaka he himself was such a victim he couldn’t average a mere 12 points a game.

Because of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the chaotic Soviet aftermath, Sido was absent from the Tokyo World’s, and on returning in ‘57 to play at Stockholm, for the first time in a decade did not make at least the eighth’s of the Singles. His career was over?

As the World’s were now every other year--and, as History would bear out, Asian players would prevail for decades, where did that leave the aging Sido?...Astonishingly, again in the final of the World’s. For, before losing to China’s first World Champion Jung Kuo-tuan, he’d 1-2-3 eliminated Japan’s World Doubles Champion Teruo Murakami, former Chinese Champion Wang Chuan-yao, and two-time World Champion Ogimura. So much, then, for the dreaded Asian penholders.

Then, in 1961, in Peking, though approaching 40, he again made the eighth’s--for the 11th time in 12 tries. With this, his exceptional and unusually enduring career came to a respectable end.

Beginning in 1963 and (except I believe for 1967) up through 1969, Sido, while socializing and being properly feted at subsequent World’s, enjoyed himself by playing in and winning the satellite Jubilee Cup event for players and officials 40 or over. An amusing divertissement--not to be taken too seriously. That is, until, forgive me, he unexpectedly strolled out for his first warm-up match to meet...whoever I was in 1971 Nagoya. Totally unprepared, he lost in straight games--and was so proud, so humiliated, he left for home the next day and never played in another Cup.

However, for the next quarter of a century, Sido was always personally very cordial to me, and at this last Manchester World’s I had the opportunity, at Bobby Gusikoff’s "Legends" booth, to have a short interview with him (Bobby, I might add, also beat Feri--but legitimately, in a ‘59 Swaythling Cup match in Dortmund). Indeed, with the help of a Reflex Sports crew headed by Leon and Gary Ruderman, I was able to tape an interview for Bobby’s projected "Legends II" video not only with Sido, who through the ‘90’s had been the personable Swaythling Club President, but with his successor Di Rowe Scholer and a number of other hard-bat Singles and Doubles Champions.

Of particular interest to me was Sido’s view that, although in ‘47 he had that early-round struggle with Schiff, and in ‘48 that Wembley loss to Miles, the "best American" he ever faced was Pagliaro. Perhaps he picked Paggy because Louie was associated with Feri’s first big breakthrough. Moreover, said Feri, there was added incentive for him to win. Since all the journalists were talking only with Pagliaro, Sido talked to himself--vowed, "I must beat him. Nobody is paying any attention to me."

By being patient in that ‘47 semi’s--he was "always patient" he said--he’d been able to beat Pagliaro, rallying from 20-16 down in the 4th, and so advance to his first World final. A good bit of that match is shown in the Gusikoff "Legends" tape and, as Barna said in his 1962 Table Tennis Today, Sido, with "the physique and appearance of a heavyweight boxer," does hit the ball extremely hard. But the points are long--necessarily, for Paggy’s crisp cuts keep the ball low over the net and Sido must wait and wait before he opens with one of his great flashing sweeps, generally from the backhand.

In having to close this brief tribute to one of the world’s most respected Champions, I’d like to say that, in that Manchester interview, Sido paid homage to his "wife of 54 years" who "looked out for me so that I could train." Which might serve as a reminder, if we need to be reminded, that, as Feri well knew, it’s the Swaythling Club spirit to lovingly remember our partners, share our long-lasting, living memories so.