Martin 'Marty' Reisman (February 1, 1930 – December 7, 2012) was an American champion table tennis player and author. He was the 1958 and 1960 U.S. Men's singles champion and the 1997 U.S. hardbat champion.

Table tennis career

Reisman started playing table tennis at the age of 12 in Manhattan's

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, and then as a hustler in New York in the 1940s, playing for bets and prizes, notably at Lawrence's Broadway Table Tennis Club at

54th Street 54th Street is a two-mile-long (3.2 km), one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan. Notable places, west to east Twelfth Avenue *The route begins at Twelfth Avenue (New York Route 9A). Opposite the intersection is the New ...

and Broadway.

Comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Jonathan Katz recalled that he met and played against Reisman when he was a youth and that Reisman was an amazing athlete, and that he was once beaten by him with the flat end of a chess piece. He won five

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s at the World Table Tennis Championships, starting with a men's team event bronze at

1948 World Table Tennis Championships The 1948 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Wembley from February 4 to February 11, 1948. Medalists Team Individual References External linksITTF Museum {{World Table Tennis Championships World Table Tennis Championships Wor ...

, followed by three medals at the 1949 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's singles, the men's team and the mixed doubles with

Peggy McLean Margaret 'Peggy' McLean (married name Folke), (born July 8, 1927) is a former international table tennis player from the United States. Table tennis career She has won two World Championship medals including a gold medal in the women's team even ...

. His fifth medal came in 1952 in the men's doubles with Douglas Cartland at the

1952 World Table Tennis Championships The 1952 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Bombay from 1 to 10 February 1952.The 1952 World Championships were marked by the arrival of the Japanese as a Table Tennis force on the world scene. In another first the Chief Referee of th ...

. He and Cartland performed a comedy table tennis routine as the opening act for the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

. Reisman won 22 major table tennis titles from 1946 to 2002, including two United States Opens and a British Open. In later life, Reisman continued to be one of the most visible presences and known personalities in the table tennis world. He became the oldest player to win an open national competition in a racket sport by winning the 1997 United States National Hardbat Championship at the age of 67, and was the president of Table Tennis Nation at the time of his death in December 2012. Reisman was Jewish.

Bibliography

Reisman's autobiography, ''The Money Player, The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Player and Hustler'' was published in 1974. Publisher: Morrow,

References

External links

Table Tennis Nation

at USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame. Accessed November 2006.
Interview With Marty Reisman
at USA Table Tennis By Tyra Parkins 2001. Accessed November 2006.

article at hardbat.com

Nearly Made A Giant-killer Of The Author, by Parton Keese

by Ray Kennedy

in The New York Times {{DEFAULTSORT:Reisman, Marty 1930 births 2012 deaths Jewish American sportspeople Jewish table tennis players American male table tennis players World Table Tennis Championships medalists 21st-century American Jews

Table tennis career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links