APTA asks Fox Meadow Tennis Club to host inter-club Scrambles

The Fox Meadow Tennis Club had been holding tennis Scrambles for several years when Ken Ward of Manursing suggested in 1938 that the recently formed American Paddle Tennis Association (APTA) hold an inter-club Scrambles. In paddle, this event came to be called the Jamboree and later the Jambles. Play was held at Fox Meadow, the only club with enough courts.

Fox Meadow players dominate the game through the 1930s and 1940s

Through the 1930s and 1940s, Fox Meadow players dominated the new sport, and their styles and strategies became the standards for championship play. The Club's pre-eminence was partly attributable to members' wholehearted adoption of the game and partly to the fact that Fox Meadow had far more courts than any other club, with the exception of Manursing Island Club in Rye, NY.

Paddle in Russia

In the spring of 1940, the APTA received a request for information on the sport from the "Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" in Washington, D.C. The Russian Commissar of Sports, Mr. Dm. Chuvakhin, wanted to learn more about platform tennis.

New York Journal Pop Quiz

WWII breaks out – Sept. 1939

First book covering Platform Tennis published

The book was published by A. S. Barnes. John Roberts Tunis (December 7, 1889 – February 4, 1975), was an American writer and broadcaster and "the 'inventor' of the modern sports story." Known for his juvenile sports novels, Tunis also wrote short stories and non-fiction, including a weekly sports column for the The New Yorker magazine. As a commentator Tunis was part of the first trans-Atlantic sports cast and the first broadcast of the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament to the United States.

Number of courts skyrockets

The APTA Annual Report of October 25th estimated 500 courts to be in use. They based the estimate on a list of 229 platforms built by the Gates Company and a partial list of plans distributed by James K. Cogswell.

Courts in the U.S. ca. 1939

This is a partial listing as there were "platforms too many to mention in the suburban area of New York City," and there were also courts in Los Angeles and Nova Scotia. Source:"Growth of the Game," Report to members of the American Paddle Tennis Association", as cited in Paddle Tennis, Blanchard 1944

Platform Tennis in Life Magazine

Kenneth Ward arranged for a piece to run in Life Magazine, and he appeared in several of the pictures that ran with it. In one of the shots, his expression was so contorted that Life felt impelled to caption it: "Up the wire, like a monkey, goes Ken Ward, President of the American Paddle Tennis Association. In spite of his strange antics, Ward is a good-looking New York broker." (Note: The pictures were taken by the Albanian-American photographer Gjon Mili who, along with Harold Edgerton of MIT, was a pioneer in the use of stroboscopic instruments to capture a sequence of actions in one photograph) The Life article brought some amusing reactions. One was a letter from a man who objected to calling O'Hearn the “game's greatest player.” He said O'Hearn had never played against him. Another man's letter made the revolutionary idea of taking balls off the backstop seem tam[...]

Fessenden Blanchard Scrapbook (1928-1940)

Blanchard kept two valuable scrapbooks covering the development of the game in the early years. This one covered the years through 1940. The second one covered 1928 - 1963 (the year of his death). There is some considerable overlap in material between the two and this one has a number of historical photographs that have been "borrowed" by others in writing about the sport and have been lost. Nevertheless, there is a fascinating tale being told in both books for those interested in the very early days of the game.