Imperial Valley press., 1943-11-14
HERE
WE GO
AGAIN
BY
THE OLD
OBSERVER

Is there a ping pong fan in the
house? There should be because,
believe it or not. there are 20,000,-
600 participants of the sport in
America.
For years now. serious lovers of
the sport have been trying to edu-
cate the public to the proper name
of table tennis, but the despised
ping pong seems 10 persist. The
original objection to the latter
name was on account of its being
an official trademark of Parker
Bros, manufacturers of the games
paraphenalia.
The game now has its own rules,
tournaments, and recognized place
in American sports under the aegiS
of the official U. s. Table Tennis
Association. Regardless OF name
The sport attracted tremendous
popularity because of its appeal to
young and old regardless of ath-
letic proves.
The greatest player the game
ever developed was a skinny little
shrimp, Lou Pagliaro. Paggy, as
everyone calls him. is only one inch
over five feet. He was raised in the
worst of New York's lower east side
slums. When he was Is, siege OF
double pneumonia took him just in
side the shadow OF death and then
gave him another chance. But two
years later he was swinging his
heart out around the white-striped
green tables.
KNEW PAGGY WELL
This reporter was close friend
OF Paggy'S back in l94l when the
champ took the national singles to
become the first player in table
tennis history to win the title two
wears III succession. He was play
ing unbeatable table tennis i'll those
days. DefenSively, he was a rock
OF Gibraltar; extensively, he smash
ed drives so powerful that a sclen-
tific meter clocked the flight OF
the ball ct $50 mp.h. Paggy was
at his peak then and had no COM
petition in America II the Olym-
pics and other international tourna-
ments had not been interrupted by
the war. Paggy surely would have
been acclaimed world champion. He
even took his second singles title
in straight sets from his closest
rival, young Eddie Pinner.
Paggy had every stroke in the
orthodox book down pat. He could
chop back the fastest drives until
his opponent tired and then step III
with a blasting offensive. Sol Schiff
had the fastest drive in the game,
Doug Garland had the most de-
ceptive drop shot, several others
had heavier chop strokes, but
Paggy had the all around game. He
was the one player without weak
ness and with a competitive fight
ing heart.
COMPARED TO GRIMES
An interesting comparison to
Paggy was Bernie Grimes. Grimes
was the most graceful player ever
to adorn a table tennis gathering.
He was form itself with a capital F
He was a handsome lad and the
fellows ragged him for appearing
supercilious at times. After Grimes
won the intercollegiate champion
ship he stayed up with the first ten
ranking players for about five
wears. But he never took the ma
tional tournament. Grimes couldnt i
quite bulldog on to things when the
going got too rough.
This reporter will never forget
the private exhibitions Paggy and
Grimes used to put on. They would
throw their friends into panegyricS
by such stunts as playing with four
balls at the same time; each over
driving the others drives; hitting
with the buttends and sides OF their
paddles; playing a fast game while
sitting in chairs at either end OF
the table. Grimes returning the
ball in regular play using only his
breath: serving 80 feet from the
table; Grimes returning Paggy's
drives from either side of three
foot fence alternately until he al
most broke his ankle; and finally
Paggy setting up a pack of cigar
cites at either corner of the table,
letting Grimes serve two balls in
rapid succession and then with two
smashes sending both packs spin
ming off the table
The ironic rub comes III the in
significant financial gain that
Paggy ever derived from being fore
most in a sport that so many mill
lions love and play. Sure, he pick
ed up odds and ends for exhibitions
and endorsements, but even after
he won his second championship
he had to support his new born
baby girl by working as a stock
clerk for a sports products manu-
facturer. That was his penalty for
not picking out a sport to excel in
that has been built up by smart
publicity agents and wide open
press coverage.
DID YOU KNOW that Bernard
Baruch. famous Wizard Of Wall
Street was a contending amateur
boycr inst a Ularter of a century