Biggest Crowd ever to watch Table Tennis
Vaughn Baber
Does anyone know what the largest attendance is ever
to watch a Table Tennis match live? Dr. Liu (World team
member Faan Yeen's father) once told me that a Table Tennis
match in China once had almost 70,000 spectators. The
largest crowd I know of had about 25,000 people. This was
at the '79 Pyongang World's. I just read that the most people
ever to watch Tennis live was 30,471 in the Houston Astrodome
(the Battle of the Sexes!).
MV BABER
Robert Trudell
ZTK...@prodigy.com (Vaughn Baber) wrote:
Is San Fransisco ready for a battle of the sexes in table tennis?
-Rob
Scott Gordon
Vaughn Baber (ZTK...@prodigy.com) wrote:
: Does anyone know what the largest attendance is ever
: to watch a Table Tennis match live? Dr. Liu (World team
: member Faan Yeen's father) once told me that a Table Tennis
: match in China once had almost 70,000 spectators. The
: largest crowd I know of had about 25,000 people. This was
: at the '79 Pyongang World's. I just read that the most people
In his book "The Money Player", Marty Riesman claims to have had
the largest audience in history at a table tennis match, when he
and Doug Cartland played in front of 70,000 spectators on an
oversized table. I can get details for you if you want.
Scott
Vaughn Baber
I think I remember reading this in his biography. Wasn't
that at a Haarlem Globetrotters game, Scott? By the way,
my first exposure to top-flight Table Tennis was at a Globe-
trotters half-time show when I was about 9. It was fascinating
to me as a kid to see two incredibly consistent Oriental
players top-spinning (both 20+ feet back!) with amazing
accuracy. All this without re-gluing! At least 20,000 very
appreciative people were in that crowd.
MV BABER
Scott Gordon
Vaughn Baber (ZTK...@prodigy.com) wrote:
: I think I remember reading this in his biography. Wasn't
: that at a Haarlem Globetrotters game, Scott?
Ok, I looked it up... it was 75,000 at Olympia Stadium in West Berlin
in 1951. The Globetrotters were playing there, and it was (at least
up to that time) also the largest crowd ever at a basketball game.
The reason it drew so well was that Jesse Owens was touring with the
Trotters and "the German people remembered how Hitler had snubbed him.
They had a debt to repay". The table was oversized (10ftx4.5ft).
Owens was the announcer for the halftime match between Riesman and
Cartland, which included such trick shots as playing with 5 balls at
once (Reisman claims they were the only exhibition pair to do that),
playing with a set of pots and pans that played "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
when they hit the ball with them, etc. The mayor of West Berlin made
a famous gesture to Jesse Owens that day: "Hitler refused to give you
his hand, I give you both my hands."
Scott
Victor Kan
>>>>> "Scott" == Scott Gordon <sgo...@zippy.sonoma.edu> writes:
In article <6b6hfd$kha$1...@hades.csu.net> sgo...@zippy.sonoma.edu (Scott Gordon) writes:
Scott> The table was oversized (10ftx4.5ft).
Hm...not really oversized since a regular table is 9'x5'. I suppose
they turned the two halves 90 degrees to get a longer table perhaps to
make exhibition play easier??
Scott Gordon
Victor Kan (at...@worldnet.att.net) wrote:
: Hm...not really oversized since a regular table is 9'x5'. I suppose
: they turned the two halves 90 degrees to get a longer table perhaps to
: make exhibition play easier??
Right... it mentions that the organizers had "set up the table wrong".
Scott
John and Cathleen Halliburton
Vaughn Baber wrote:
> I think I remember reading this in his biography. Wasn't
> that at a Haarlem Globetrotters game, Scott? By the way,
> my first exposure to top-flight Table Tennis was at a Globe-
> trotters half-time show when I was about 9. It was fascinating
> to me as a kid to see two incredibly consistent Oriental
> players top-spinning (both 20+ feet back!) with amazing
> accuracy. All this without re-gluing! At least 20,000 very
> appreciative people were in that crowd.
>
> MV BABER
Not to mention the time we went to U. of Michigan to see the
ChineseNational team during the great Ping Pong Diplomacy era!
John
Alan & Erin Williams
too young to remember.) It was also packed.
Before we entered (through a crowd of Rev. Carl McIntyre supporters and
anti-war protesters who were chanting "Daddy bombs Haiphong, but Tricia
loves Ping Pong!") my father predicted that D.J. Lee would win his match
that night. Afterward I asked him how he knew that, as 'our' American
friends seemed hopelessly outclassed otherwise...
'Ah!' he replied, 'the Chinese are being good guests. Its lost on most
observers, but our National champions will win tonight, our California
residents will win in Long Beach, etc etc. They believe that American
crowds will want to see their 'regional favorites' victorious."
I am still waiting for the public in USA to have regional favorites!
Alan
Robert Trudell
Alan & Erin Williams <will...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>I am still waiting for the public in USA to have regional favorites!
>Alan
The Arizona Doubles team of Marek Zochowski and Rob Trudell overcame a
700 point rating spread to defeat the Maryland Doubles team of Sean
and Brian Lonegran.
Hooray! Hooray!
-Rob
Larry Hodges
Robert Trudell wrote:
>
> The Arizona Doubles team of Marek Zochowski and Rob Trudell overcame a
> 700 point rating spread to defeat the Maryland Doubles team of Sean
> and Brian Lonegran.
>
> Hooray! Hooray!
Wait a minute, when did this happen? Were dinosaurs watching?
Brian Lonergan hasn't played in several years. His last rating was
around 2150 or so, although he had gone over 2250. What was the spot?
How much did you bribe them? If it was a one of our training camps,
then I probably bribed them to lose so that Arizonians would go home
saying how much they improved! :)
-Larry Hodges
P.S. Please add Brian Lonergan to our active player list for MDTTC. He
told me on the phone recently he was thinking about considering the
possibility of taking some time off to think about playing table tennis
again. :)
Robert Mayer
Vaughn Baber <ZTK...@prodigy.com> wrote in article
<6b2sqp$oqu$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>...
> Does anyone know what the largest attendance is ever
> to watch a Table Tennis match live? Dr. Liu (World team
> member Faan Yeen's father) once told me that a Table Tennis
> match in China once had almost 70,000 spectators. The
> largest crowd I know of had about 25,000 people. This was
> at the '79 Pyongang World's. I just read that the most people
> (the Battle of the Sexes!).
>
> MV BABER
>
the 1986 Olympic Festival competition at Fonde Recreation center in
Houston. I believe the audience consisted of approximately 1100
spectators. These were REAL spectators, not the U.S. Open kind of
spectators (tournament players in between matches). Sean O'Neill went on
to win one of his umpteen Olympic Festival gold medals in the Men's
Singles.
- Robert -
Vaughn Baber
John, I think we saw the Chinese "Ping-Pong Diplomacy Team"
at Cobo, didn't we? I remember the (anti-Chinese) demonstrators
in the upper balcony. Must have been 35,000 in the crowd.
God, that's been light years ago!
Your friend,
Mike
3stars
i was there too but i dont remeber a big crowd.
it was very hard to find.
Robert Mayer <rhm...@delos.net> wrote in article
<01bd3386$996354e0$c491...@Robert.earthlink.net>...
John and Cathleen Halliburton
Vaughn Baber wrote:
Man, you almost turn forty, and your memory just does a core dump. I
honestly thoughtwe saw them in Ann Arbor, at the basketball arena on
campus. Anybody remember
if they played there or am I just really confused? Either way, it was a
big crowd.
Best Regards,
John
Larry Hodges
John and Cathleen Halliburton wrote:
>
> honestly thoughtwe saw them in Ann Arbor, at the basketball arena on
> campus. Anybody remember
> if they played there or am I just really confused? Either way, it was
> a big crowd.
Although I wasn't there, I know the Chinese team that toured the U.S. in
1972 had a team match vs. the U.S. in Ann Arbor. I know this from my
interview with Dell & Connie Sweeris, members of the U.S. Team back
then, which appeared a couple of months ago in the Chinese national
newspaper during Ping Pong Diplomacy 25th Anniversary. (I forget name.)
I reprinted interview in Table Tennis Talk last year. (They are the
parents of U.S. Olympic Team Member Todd Sweeris.)
-Larry Hodges
P.S. Alright, here's my two cents worth. The biggest crowd I ever
played in front of was 15,000 in an exhibition at halftime between (I
think) North Carolina State and Duke in 1980. I'll try to remember to
ask Cheng Yinghua and Gao Jun the biggest crowds they have ever played
in front of.
Larry Hodges
Larry Hodges wrote:
>
> The biggest crowd I ever
> played in front of was 15,000 in an exhibition at halftime between (I
> think) North Carolina State and Duke in 1980.
Correction: I believe it was 15,000, but it's been 18 years, so I'm not
certain about it.
Vaughn Baber
You're right, John. We saw them at U. of M. But I think
we might have seen them at Cobo, too. That was big time
table tennis, wasn't it? The crowd really got their money's
worth, that's for sure.
MV BABER
PercyB2362
John wrote:
>Man, you almost turn forty, and your memory just does a core dump. I
>honestly thoughtwe saw them in Ann Arbor, at the basketball arena on
>campus. Anybody remember
>if they played there or am I just really confused? Either way, it was a
>big crowd.
>
>John
>
>
>
>
>
I think you're both WAY OFF-TRACK. It was at UCLA in LA, CA.
- PB in Sacto
Larry Hodges
The Chinese and U.S. teams did team matches at several cities, including
UCLA, Ann Arbor, and others.
-Larry Hodges
Robert Mayer
3stars <3st...@sprintmail.com> wrote in article
<01bd3504$039ffd80$198385ce@default>...
> i was there too but i dont remeber a big crowd.
> it was very hard to find.
>
Since it was a multi-day event, I'm sure the crowds were much smaller at
different times, but it was a substantial crowd on the evening I was there.
- Robert -
John and Cathleen Halliburton
Vaughn Baber wrote:
It sure impressed me, and anyone else who was seeing it for thefirst
time. No parlor game, this!
John
PercyB2362
John wrote:
>
>It sure impressed me, and anyone else who was seeing it for thefirst
>time. No parlor game, this!
>
>
Ditto for the UCLA stop. Outstanding. Especially the final singles match that
featured our own Erwin Klein against (??). It was only and exhibition, but
Klein was very sharp. Do you recall who the local reps were at your events,
if there were any? Thx.
- PB in Sacto