Prompted by increasing concern about line calls and foot-faulting, APTA President Robert Brown formed a committee to advise and recommend steps to cope with these matters. The committee recommended the establishment of an Umpires Committee, whose function would be to post line judges to make out calls and any foot-fault calls.
The APTA concurred with the recommendation. Paul Malloy, Paul Sullivan and Brook Kindred, from Fox Meadow formed the nucleus, along with renowned tennis umpires Jack Stahr and Mike Dunne.
Foreseeing the likelihood of company-sponsored “tours,” a special Committee on Commercialization chaired by Mike North, was formed.,
By mid-1974, the APTA formally established its policy on commercial activities and decided to maintain control over all commercial tournament activities, as not doing so would have undoubtedly led to the establishment of a separate professional organization.
Bob Kingsbury was appointed director of commercial activities, while Gloria Dillenbeck, Executive Secretary, assisted him.
Richard J. Reilly, Jr. was a major force in developing the game through his innovations in court construction and his unwavering support for the game over many years.
Among his many improvements to court engineering was the pioneering of the aluminum deck in the early 1970s
Reilly’s contributions helped make the game what it is today and was a factor in expanding the reaches of the game across the U.S., as well as to Canada, France, Poland, Bulgaria, and Japan.
Edited by Dick Squires, this was one of a number of books he edited or wrote. Squires was a great promoter of the game.
Squires was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Held in Mid-November at Amelia Island Plantation, FL, the tournament consisted of eight of the top nine nationally-ranked teams. The winning team of Mangan and Kingsbury received $2,000, while the runners-up, Steele and Jennings, earned $500.
Highlights of the tournament were shown on the CBS show Sports Spectacular on Sunday February 23, 1975
Even though most of the players on the tour had full-time jobs outside of platform tennis, with the majority of them working in the finance industry, the prize money added another enticement to the game.
Welcome to the best location in the nation - Cleveland, of course. To all our old friends its super to see you again, and to you new faces, its great to see you guys as well.
For the men it is a historical occasion! Who would believe we would be pounding the pill for the long hard green. For the first time in the history of our favorite sport, dollars are replacing the firm handshake and the clasp on the back
It didn't take long before a committee consisting of tournament level players and headed by APTA President Bob Brown re-visited the nine-point tie-breaker adopted in early 1974.
The nine-point tie-breaker rule stated that if two teams reached 4-all the next point decided the set. This was considered unfair.
The APTA subsequently adopted a 12-point tie-breaker of its own, one in which the first team winning 7 points takes the set. If the teams reach 6-all then it takes a margin of two points to win (e.g. 8-6 or 12-10)
The sequence in the APTA 12-point tiebreaker is as follows:
Assume the last point of the set has ended, and the game score is 6-all. The players stay on the same side of the net and the next player in the regular service rotation serves once from the ad court.
When that point is over, the players change sides and the normal serving rotation continues with ea[...]
Born in 1924, Jack Davis is one of the best-known American illustrators of the past fifty years. During his illustrious career, he created art for magazine covers, film posters, record jackets, advertisements, and books. Perhaps he is most admired for his work in MAD Magazine.
In the platform tennis world, he is famous for his zany drawings that feature outlandish characters on the court. During the 1970’s, he created twelve widely distributed platform tennis prints. A former Scarsdale resident, Davis played platform tennis socially at the Scarsdale Golf Club. Although he claims that he didn’t base his characters on anyone specific, it is hard not to identify with each of them.
The Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame inducted Davis in 2003.
Interesting factoid: Jack Davis had Fox Meadow Tennis Club member Karen Reuter (1943-2008) do quite a bit of coloring for his cart[...]
Back to TopSpectators at Fox Meadow Tennis Club, Scarsdale, NY watching the final of the 1977 Men's Nationals
Handling the crowds at the Men’s Nationals created some challenges. With the growing popularity and spectator appeal of the game, the APTA decided to limit the crowds and defray tournament expenses by charging admission into the Fox Meadow grounds. Also, for the 1975 event, Fox Meadow Tennis Club planned to install a large tent in the parking lot, in order to provide creature comforts and food for spectators at the semis and finals.
There would be a general admission charge of $2 for adults and $1 for children. Super-fans could purchase a clubhouse pass, entitling them to lunch for $10. Under this new format only pass-holders, officials, semi-finalists and their wives would be permitted access to the clubhouse.
Source: Off The Wire, Vol. 6 No. 3
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