APTA Annual Business and Board Meetings – Two serve tournament scheduled

FMTC hosts 52nd Men’s Nationals and Men’s and Women’s President’s Cup

The Fox Meadow Tennis Club, represented by tournament liaison Bob Brown, continued the fine tradition of play and formality that makes a National Championship. Paul Molloy capably headed the Tournament Committee. Fox Meadow's President Dick Warren helped to convey the membership’s love for the game by showing the hospitality on which it always thrived. Hank and Betty Otto arranged housing for the many participants for the second year in a row. The officials were aptly handled by Tournament Referee Paul Sullivan and Brook Kindred. And, last but not least, Hugh and Rose King whose charm and class symbolizes every Fox Meadow member's incentive to do their tournament assignments correctly and in style. Source: Platform Tennis News, April 1986

APTA Moves Office

The APTA moved to shared office space in a renovated building that provided common secretarial services. The move helped contain costs as the organization grew and was still located in the Upper Montclair, NJ, business district.

National Championships

The Cleveland Skating Club, which was celebrating it 50th anniversary, was the host club for the event. The women’s had a field of 56 teams and saw Pat Butterfield and Diane Tucker, the defending champions, just edged by Meri Lobel and Yvonne Hackenburg, in their semi-final match. In the final, they needed three sets to overcome the first-seeded team of Connie Jones and Gerri Viant. The men’s draw had a 72-team field and the finals were played in 70 degree weather. With very few errors by their opponents, Baird and Maier lost for the second year in a row to Moore and Irvine in straight sets. In the mixed, Jim Kaufman and Connie Jones won an exciting three set final over Tully and Meri Lobel. The pair were down 1-4 in the final set before winning the next five games. Behind The Screens 1987 National Championships - the stories and photographs. Source: Platform T[...]

Donald M. White ( -1987)

Don was the APTA President from 1942-1944. He began playing paddle in the early 1930s, and became a National Champion in 1943 with Charles O'Hearn as his partner. He was friendly with Blanchard and Cogswell and often contributed to the direction in which the game has evolved. Don was a member of Innis Arden Golf Club in Old Greenwich, CT, and an enthusiastic promoter of the game to the membership. The Innis Arden Mixed Invitational Tournament trophy is dedicated to him. Source: Platform Tennis News, Spring 1987

Jerry Manhold retires from APTA Board

Manhold had served a five year term and was a major force behind the development of the Senior Paddle Scene. A former National Champion, he worked tirelessly as a Board Member to improve the plight of the Senior paddler. "The Legend," aptly dubbed by Howard Sipe, had striven to broaden the scope of competition throughout the U.S., and had introduced and chaired The Manhold Senior Challenge Cup competition.He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004. Source: Platform Tennis News, September 1984

Proposed rule changes defeated at Annual Meeting

At the annual meeting in May there was some spirited discussion on the following motions: • Allow a let to be taken if a lob, once landing in the court, were to bounce out, over the screening. • Allow a carry or double hit to be considered legal in paddle (currently illegal). • Have the first server in a tiebreaker start from the deuce court ,rather than the ad court, which is now the case. All were denied. Source: Platform Tennis News, September 1984

First APTA website proposed and over skepticism becomes a reality

The Platform Tennis News, Summer 1996 had a summary of the Annual BOD meeting which included looking at the development of a website: …."Looking to the future to provide greater service to the membership, John Horine was directed to look into an Internet site…" The BOD Minutes of Sept 19, 1996 indicated a somewhat luke warm response to the proposal subsequently presented by Horine and funding was not approved… "The Board's reaction was varied, ranging from enthusiastic to skeptical. A motion to appropriate up to $5,000 to fund an adventure (sic) on the Internet was defeated. John, however, was not dissuaded and the website became on eventuality in 1997. The Sept. 24 1997 Minutes of the BOD reflected the reality: "John Horine reported the revised Web site looks good, and it has generated much activity. He asked each Regional President to sell advertising space f[...]

National Championships

PTN Spring and Fritz Odenbach in PTN Summer covered the Men's and Women's Nationals Neither rain nor sleet nor 70-degree heat could keep Rochester from hosting the platform event of the year. And no weather anomalies could derail the eventual crowning of Gerri Viant and Connie Jones as national women's champs, and Rich Maier and Steve Baird as men's titlists. Gordon Gray almost achieved a Triple Crown by winning the 50+ and 55+, but lost a three-setter in the 45+ finals to Dick Heverland and Dave Dickenson. In bright sunlight and warm temperatures, patience played a major part in the Viant/Jones victory, as they refused to hurry their offensive attacks, and wore down Butterfield/Tucker with athleticism and soft overheads down the middle. The eventual winners also managed to avoid the crunching forehand of Tucker and patented Butterfield blitzes. The men's final had very [...]

Charles E. Vasoll elected APTA President (1988-1992)

Vasoll was a platform tennis fanatic, as was confirmed by his vanity automobile license plate, “P T NUT,” and the frame around it that read, “I’m crazy about platform tennis.” After only one year on the APTA Board of Directors, he was tapped to be the Association’s President. He had retired when a large New York City bank bought the community bank for which he worked, and he was able to devote many hours to his new “job.” He commuted from Long Island to the APTA office in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Vasoll was the first President to serve four years since Fessenden Blanchard in 1934-38. After his term as President, he continued to serve on the Board until 2001. In 2002, he chaired the National Championships on Long Island. He was active in the publishing of the APTA newsletter, Platform Tennis News, and had a web site, PlatformTennisNews.com for five [...]