May 23, 2012
U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Have you ever visited the online U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame? There are 134 members - 87 players and 47 officials/contributors. It's a fascinating look back at the players and other people that dominated and influenced table tennis in the U.S. since the formation of USA Table Tennis (then U.S. Table Tennis Association) in 1933. Tim Boggan has written profiles of each of them, which are linked here - spend a day reading over them. Someday they should be made into a book.
I've met 79 of them. (I'm not sure how you could "meet" six of the "contributors" inducted - Detroiter, General Sportcraft, Harvard Table Tennis, Nippon Takkyu, P. Becker and Co., and Tamasu Co. Since I've used or played against equipment made by each of these companies, does that mean I've "met" 85?) Go over the list; how many have you met or seen? (And if you studiously read my blog, you can count me as "met"!)
There's also this U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame page, but its listings seem a few years out of date, only going to 2008. It lists the U.S. Hall of Fame Committee, history, retrospectives, annual banquet info, etc.
In addition to the 134 Hall of Famers, there are the 14 recipients of the Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award. (They are all also members of the Hall of Fame.) I've met all but Leah Thall Neuberger. The recipients are: Bobby Gusikoff, Sol Schiff, Jimmy McClure, Dick Miles, Marty Reisman, J. Rufford Harrison, Leah Thall Neuberger, Thelma "Tybie" Thall Sommer, Joseph R. "Tim" Boggan, George Braithwaite, Danny Seemiller, Houshang Bozorgzadeh, Fred Danner, and Mal Anderson.
And since we're talking history here, don't forget to get your copies of History of U.S. Table Tennis, with twelve volumes published! (Volume 12 just came out.) Tim Boggan is already well into Vol. 13. He just sent me the first six chapters; I do the page layouts for him.
19th Maccabiah Games
If you are Jewish and would like to represent the U.S. in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, July 17-30, here's the info page.
MSNBC Visits Spin
Here's a video from MSNBC (4:09) in their "Sara in the City" segment, on Spin New York, the social table tennis club partially owned by actress Susan Sarandon.
Best of Table Tennis Video
Here's another great video (9:40) of great points. It's set to music, with lots of slow motion. One of the best compilation of great points I've seen.
Hunter Pence Table Tennis
Table Tennis Nation brings us this video of baseball player Hunter Pence of the Philadelphia Phillies playing table tennis. In the linked video the table tennis begins just past the eight minute mark.
Water Table Tennis
Here's the newest craze: water table tennis! Here's another picture.
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