Singles back in town

On May 10 and 11, the Manhattan Platform Tennis Club hosted the Doug Russell Invitational Singles Championships. Doug Russell and Linda Wolf captured the titles. APTA Singles would not restart until 1980, but this event put singles back on the map for the first time since 1937. See also: Singles grows up

L. Gillespie Erskine, Jr. elected FMTC President (1977-1979)

Louis Gillespie (Gil) Erskine (1921-) was born in New York City and spent his early years in Larchmont, NY, and nearby Scarsdale. Following graduation from Salisbury School, he attended Princeton University. Erskine left after his sophomore year to become a glider pilot in World War II, stationed primarily in Rome. He received the Air Medal for his service. Following the war, Erskine received a law degree from New York University, which, taking his war experience into account, accepted him as a student despite his not having graduated from college. He was happy to pass the Bar exam on the first try. The last 25 years of Erskine's business career were spent as president of Financial Institutions Retirement Fund, located in White Plains, NY. He retired in 1986, having growing the business very successfully. The Fox Meadow Tennis Club has been an important pa[...]

Richard M. Hornigold elected APTA President (1977-1978)

The year of the amateur

Cecil J. North, in his closing speech as APTA President, pinpointed the principal theme for the coming season: “The APTA must provide more service to member clubs and amateur player-members and by so doing, enlarge the broad base of APTA membership.” He announced that the Board had already taken steps to separate the "commercial" game from the "amateur" one for the next year, and they anticipated an even more clear-cut separation to come. Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 2 No. 5 (July-August)

APTA focuses on helping weekend players and building regional support

APTA President Mike North’s remarks: “At the Annual Meeting last year, I said that I thought that one of the APTA's most important objectives should be to develop a program for the players who do not participate in major tournaments. These may be players on the way up, on the way down, or people who love the game but do not have the ability to compete at the top level. We have not yet come up with the right name for this group. It is not ‘amateur’ because the distinction we are trying to make is not based on playing for money, but on the caliber of play. Neither is it truly ‘weekend players’ because many people play during the week. But the term ‘weekend player’ somehow comes closest to capturing the spirit that many of us want to retain. The Western Platform Tennis Association (WPTA) under Dick Hornigold, George Black and, now, Dick Hall, has made great progre[...]

A good year for junior play

Eleven different cities hosted open tournaments in the 18 and 15 and under categories for boys and girls, including the Nationals. A sizeable increase in the number of teams over last year was evident in all age groups. Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 2 No. 5 (July-August)

Passport Scotch sponsorship

Philip E. Beekman, President of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., announced that Calvert Distillers Co. & Passport Scotch would be the sponsors of a tour for men and women during the 1977-78 season, offering prize money of over $140,000. In October, the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York City held two days of matches. Platform tennis enthusiasts in the New York metropolitan area were encouraged to stop by and watch the top teams in action. Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 3 No. 1 (September-October)

Passport Platform Tennis Tour starts

Calvert Distillers Company, the producer of Passport Scotch, agreed to sponsor the Passport Platform Tennis Playoffs, which consisted of six men’s events and five women’s events, all leading up to the $50,000 Passport Platform Tennis Classic in March 1978 at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club, South Orange, NJ. The Platform Tennis Playoffs were announced at a series of exhibitions at the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York City to start the 50th anniversary celebration of Platform Tennis.

“Join the American Platform Tennis Association?”

“Me? You gotta be kidding! What's it gonna do for me? I'm just a cannon fodder type!" Sound familiar? It sure is! But the answers to those questions are easy. They are "Yes." "No!" and "Lots!" In other words, yes, you ought to join. No, we're not kidding. And joining the APTA will do a lot (a) for you and (b) for this 50-year-old sport. The APTA entered the 1976-1977 season with 3,589 members. In 1973, it had 810. The goal for the next season was 7,000. That didn't seem unrealistic for a game that had blitzed the landscape from San Diego to Georgia, North Carolina, and the entire northeast. Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 3 No. 1 (September-October)

Tribuno Vermouth becomes sponsor of professional circuit

Charles Millard of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York approached the APTA with the idea of Tribuno Vermouth becoming the title sponsor of the professional circuit for the 1977-78 season. This idea was an enormous success and brought platform tennis to an even wider audience.