Approximately 20 years after the first paddle court was installed at the Fox Meadow Club in Scarsdale, New York (November, 1931), a few newcomers to Sewickley, a suburb northwest of Pittsburgh, were planting the seeds for what was to become the first known paddle court in the Pittsburgh region.
The Ramsburgs had moved to Sewickley from New Canaan, where they had been members of the Country Club that housed one of the first few paddle courts in the country. In 1951, Chassie Ramsburg talked Henry Chalfant into allowing him to build a paddle court using the concrete base of a greenhouse that had been torn down.
Ramsburg ordered architectural plans from R.J. Reilly in Rye, New York then turned over those plans to a local contractor in Sewickley.
According to a report, the contractor used “reject pipe from the Spang Chalfant plant along with some sort of wire.” When Chassie as[...]
On a Sunday early in March, before a packed house of members and invited guests, the Fox Meadow Tennis Club in Scarsdale New York, affectionately known as the "Home of Platform Tennis," presented a historical review of the sport.
Molly Ware, daughter of one of the founders of the game, Fessenden Blanchard, and her husband, John, narrated the photographic slide presentation. Also present was Do Deland, daughter of James Cogswell, also recognized as a founder of the game.
Of most interest to the Club's members was the explanation of how the introduction of the game of platform tennis literally saved the Club from bankruptcy in 1932.
A question and answer session followed the slide presentation, with many of the Club members present adding their own recollections of the times when the game was begun and the Fox Meadow Tennis Club was the first club to have courts.
On display w[...]
Back to TopThe summer edition of Platform Tennis News paid tribute to Charley as a man and as APTA President
One of paddle's brightest lights, hardest workers and nicest guys, Charley Stevens, who had just resigned as APTA President after a three-year term, died of cancer at the age of 63.
During his term, the change in the rules to play net cord services was a controversial step, and he led the Association during an era of new competition in equipment. The Wilson Sporting Goods Corporation entering the market with new racquets, and acquired the Vitteret platform tennis ball line from the Hedstrom Corporation, and Viking Athletics, formerly A2Z Products, rose from the ashes of its purchase of the platform tennis business of the Marcraft Corporation to become a major player.
Howard Sipe remembered, “…. he used [his] strength and competitiveness to help build a strong foundation for platform. You could fault Charley for tact, but you could never fault him for passion, especially when [...]
Each dot on the map is the five digit zip code of a customer but some have more than one court. Court costs at the time could be as much as $40,000 and most were installations at private clubs and schools.
Source: R. J. Reilly Co. Brewster NY
At the Annual Meeting in May, the Board of Directors of the APTA voted to continue the rule established at the 1996 meeting, which eliminated the let on a net cord service.
The motion agreed upon left the door open for a further review in May 1998; however, the Directors were much stronger in support of the rule change than they were when they first instituted it.
Part of the reason for their change in approach was due to the fact that tennis was also moving ahead with abolishing the let. The USTA Senior Father and Son circuit would be experimenting with the "no let" service on a trial basis in its 1997 national championships, and the men's and women's senior divisions of the U.S. Open instituted the change in 1996. The APTA Board was not as "far out" in making this change as some players thought.
Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1997
“Give us more” was the general opinion of the first platform tennis clinic conducted for teaching professionals by Wilson Sporting Goods in Chicago to kick off the 1997-98 season.
"It fits in with a lot of trends that we're seeing in the game," said John Embree, General Manager of Racquet Sports for Wilson, because “…..Chicago is a hotbed of the sport, as evidenced by this clinic, the annual Charities event, and this season's National Championships being played here.”
What the 30 pros from seven states got was absolutely spotless weekend weather, expert advice on everything from drills to strategy to running programs, and the opportunity to hear two former National Champions and current teaching pros, Rich Maier and Hank Irvine, dispense a wealth of knowledge about what makes a teaching pro good.
Source: Platform Tennis News, Fall 1997
Mike Dougherty reported from Colorado and Eric Stern from Gaeufelden, Germany.
Letter to Chuck Vasoll from Mike Dougherty:
“Chuck,
Things are moving forward on the paddle front out here (Colorado). I've placed a couple of ads for platform tennis courts, adult leagues and have a junior program January 24th at the Boulder courts. Viking is donating eight junior paddles. We hope to run 96 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other area youth……”
Letter from Eric Stern to Carolyn Tierney:
“Dear Carolyn:
My father, Harold Stern, has successfully installed the first two R.J. Reilly aluminum platform tennis courts in Gaeufelden, Germany. At the opening in 1996, we had some of the top U.S. players showing us how the game is being played on beginners' and competitive levels.
George Zink did a terrific job in demonstrating this new sport. His enthusiasm infected a lot of players [...]
During October, local tournaments were held in six states at thirteen different clubs. The winners from each tournament—35 teams—arrived at Fox Meadow Tennis Club for the finals in November. Robin Fulton had conceived of the event and was the tournament chair.
Viking Athletics was the primary sponsor, and David Kjeldsen, CEO, spent the day at Fox Meadow supporting all the activities.
Carly Swain filed this report in the Mid-Winter edition of Platform Tennis News:
“The field was very strong on the ‘senior’ side, with many nationally ranked players in the draw, but it was the ‘juniors’ who were the stars. Twelve teams competed in the 12 and under category. The final four were Tim McAvoy/David Hissey, up against Phil/Tyler Gaffney. The final score was in favor of repeat winners, McAvoy/Hissey, 6-1, 6-1. The 15-and-under draw was the largest, with 15 teams and the "c[...]
Viking had started making balls soon after they acquired the Marcraft platform tennis business in 1995. C0-incidentally, Wilson had acquired the Vittert V30 ball business from Hedstrom about the same time and decided to stop selling balls to Viking, which had been a long-time reseller, as they were a competitor.
The New Viking ball was well received and was used in the 1997 Men's and Women's Nationals but later batches were even better! They were on a roll.
However the ball manufacturing business was a difficult one and bad batches of balls had a habit of showing up unexpectedly.
David Kjeldsen recalls Viking's experience just when he thought he had finally found the "perfect" ball……..
"No matter who the manufacturer was, there always seemed to surface a bad batch of balls. In the Hedstrom days bad would mean excessive "chunking". In the early Viking days it would mean [...]
The Rules and Equipment Committee submitted a review of the ball specifications and test results from the U.S. Testing Laboratory.
Recognizing that many questions about the liveliness of the ball were a result of unusually warm weather during the prior season, the Board approved a change in the rebound specification, increasing that number from 48.0" to 51.0".
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