The Seventies

1970

Elfie Carroll

  • From Forest Hills, NY and St. Petersburg, FL.
  • Woman's national champion 1950, 1955 and 1958; runner-up 1951, 1952,1953, 1957 and 1960.
  • National mixed doubles champion (with her husband) for four straight years - 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952; runners-up 1953 and 1958.

Alexander Carver

  • Men's national champion three years in a row - 1961, 1962 and 1963.
  • Mixed national champion 1964; runner-up 1958, 1962, 1963 and 1968.
  • Men's senior national champion 1963 and 1970; finalist 1968.

Mary Adair Moore

  • Woman's national champion 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1954; finalist 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1950.
  • Mixed national champion 1946; finalist 1939 and 1951.
  • Known as Maizie, she was Madge Beck' s sister.

1972

Philip W. Osborne

  • Founder, Fox Chapel Racket Club.
  • Pioneered the development of Pittsburgh platform tennis.
  • An early proponent of the aluminum deck.

1973

Gordon S. Gray

  • Mixed national champion 1966; finalist men's open nationals that same year (the year he first took up platform tennis).
  • Mixed champion 1967 and 1968.
  • Men's open finalist 1968.
  • Men's open champion 1969, 1970 and 1971 - three in a row (a feat done only once previously); finalist 1972.

1974

Richard J. Reilly, Jr.

  • House-builder turned platform tennis court manufacturing pioneer.
  • Developed a better system for tightening screens; hinged snow boards.
  • Did away with the four upper-corner braces.
  • Added walnut chips (and later granular aluminum) to the deck paint for traction on courts.
  • Developed the aluminum court.
  • Expanded platform tennis to Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Indonesia and Poland to name a few..

1976

John R. Moses

  • Fox Meadow fixture.
  • Captain, Yale tennis team.
  • Youngest men's nationals finalist ever at 19 years old.
  • Youngest men's open national champion at 23 years old.
  • Nationals champion 1947 and 1957.
  • Nationals finalist 1943, 1948, 1953 and 1955.
  • Mixed national champion 1955.
  • Introduced Kansas City to platform tennis.
  • Also a number-one ranked squash player.

Susan Wasch

  • Youngest woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
  • Fifth-ranked woman in total number of points earned for winning and running-up in APTA championship play.
  • Youngest mixed doubles nationals finalist (1957).
  • Mixed doubles champion 1972; finalist 1960, 1965 and 1973.
  • Women's open national champion at age 24 (for many years the youngest to ever win the title).
  • National champion four times - 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1965; finalist 1964 and 1967.
  • Only platform tennis player to be highlighted in Sports Illustrated'sFaces in the Crowd (after winning the mixed national championship in 1972 with her brother and despite a 7-year layoff from the sport).

1979

Eldredge and Pamela BerminghamEldredge L. Bermingham

  • Built the first courts in the Pittsburgh area in 1960.
  • Introduced the sport to the area via scrambles tournaments (where half the team had to be from another town).
  • And in so doing he helped introduce platform tennis to Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati and Toledo.
  • Founded the Western Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association in 1967 (the first regional organization).
  • APTA Director 1973-75.
  • Photo with his wife, Pamela, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Peggy Stanton

  • Winner of 4 national women's championships (1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970); nationals finalist 1971.
  • Winner of senior women's nationals in 1974 and 1977; finalist 1976.
  • Finalist, national mixed 1969.
  • Worked for more and better tournaments, bigger draws and prizes.
  • First woman Director of the APTA.
  • First APTA Women's Tournament Director.