Fox Meadow hosts both Men’s and Women’s Nationals, and President’s Cups

The event marked the 60th anniversary of the game and was the 55th Nationals. The Men’s was chaired by Bob Brown and the Women’s by Judy Macy. The tournament program carried the following letter from the Tournament Coordinator: Welcome to the 1989 Women's and Men's National Championships and the President’s Cup team competitions: How time flies! It was 20 years ago this month that I first ran the Men's Nationals at Fox Meadow and it seems like only yesterday. I have many vivid and pleasant memories of that event (won by Gordon Gray and Jesse Sammis over Brad Drowne and Bill Scarlett 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 8 6), as well as the many other exciting championship matches at the club in the years since. In those days, the finals were played on Court #2 before a cozy crowd. During the 1970's, as the game's popularity boomed, the finals were shifted to Court #1 in order to surround [...]

Put a clock on it!

Probably the worst match Paul Molloy ever worked was at Rye, between Herb Fitz Gibbon and Hank Irvine against Gordon Gray and Doug Russell that went to 18-16 in the fifth set on a Super Bowl Sunday. After the match, Molloy met with the rules committee and got them to agree to play tiebreakers all the way.

Paul Molloy’s thoughts on players and matches

When Paddle Tennis News asked about the memorable matches he saw, this was his response. These recollections appeared in the March edition of PTN: “I wish I had some vivid recollections of the classic matches involving Hebard, Carver, Pardoe, Harrison, O'Hearn and others. They were all great. Ted Winpenny comes to mind as the cagiest player I ever saw. Very steady and sneaky good. Of the players I have umpired for over the last 16 years, there are several that stand out in my mind. Bob Kingsbury gave the most effort. I wish I had a dollar for every time he scraped himself up going for and usually getting an impossible shot. Greg Brents was the fastest I ever saw. There was no way you could send a ball past him that he couldn't get back and retrieve. Watching Hank Irvine was a joy. He has great style and no one ever covered his partner as he did. Herb Fitz Gibbon's serve retu[...]

National Championships – and what it took to run the Men’s and Women’s Nationals and Presidents Cups

PTN Spring 1989 had the coverage of the Men's and Women's Nationals. The top two seeds never saw the light of day in the Women's Nationals finals, as Bobo Mangan and Sarah Krieger rose from their third-seeded position to lay claim to the title of Women's National Champions for 1988-89. Before a sun-drenched crowd at the “Home of Platform Tennis” at Fox Meadow in Scarsdale, NY, Mangan and Krieger eked out a 7-6, 6-3 triumph over fellow up-setters Sue Aery and Mary Ginnard, who had overcome one of the strongest women’s teams in recent years, Robin Fulton and Diane Tucker, in the semis. After a year beset by change in the world of men's platform tennis, the National Championships changed all that by going according to form. In a grueling, almost three-hour final, top-seeded and six-time champions Rich Maier and Steve Baird overcame the rising brother combo of Bob and [...]

A history of Platform Tennis?

The Spring edition of Platform Tennis News carried the following article from an anonymous paddler from Troy, NY who was obviously unaware that the eminent historian and Old Army Athlete C. Alison Scully had already provided a history of the game to Fess Blanchard in 1935 for an article Blanchard had been asked to write for Esquire (See Tracing the Origins of Paddle Tennis). The History of Platform Tennis: THE EARLIEST SIGNS Carbon dating has fixed earliest known relics of platform tennis around 40,000 B.C. Signs at the tundra town of Jhurk, have unearthed early paddles, probably made of caribou or whale skin, laminated by placing under eskimos. Over what must have been a precipice have been found thousands of round, resilient projectil[...]

Barbara Wood elected FMTC President (1989-1991)

Wood was the second woman president of Fox Meadow, following Hopeton D. Atterbury, later Mrs. William Quaid, who served in 1907 and 1909.

Leaning towards Leagues

In an effort to extend its services to more paddle players at every skill level, the APTA created a new position on its Board and appointed Mark Allen as its first-ever liaison to platform leagues. Platform Tennis News began carrying information on league activities, and started the ball rolling with a review of the exceptional growth of one of the East Coast's most successful programs, the New Jersey Men's Platform Tennis League. Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1989

APTA Annual Business and Board Meetings – Bylaws amended for voting

Paddle around the world

Platform tennis was not only enjoying a resurgence in the United States, but its boundaries were expanding worldwide. Alfred Schulter sent expansion news from Austria. Schulter had built the first two courts in his country with construction information and encouragement from the APTA home office. At the time, he was building new courts for the Sporting University in Graz, in the south of Austria. The Second Open National Championship of Styria (Graz region) was scheduled for Nov. 10-12. Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1989

Change made to number of sets played and use of tie-breakers. Men’s National Championship finals now just three sets.

The APTA moved to a best-of-three sets format for the men's national ranking and National Championship events. Many ranking events had already adopted this format. The 12 point Tiebreak was recommended for all sets except for the third set in the finals of the Men's, Women's and Mixed National Championships which were to be played out. See also 1984 rule change for Men's National Championship Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1989