Dreaming is for free.
By David Kjeldsen

I recently had the distinct honor and pleasure of touring the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame in Chatham, New Jersey with Centercourt Athletic Club’s platform tennis director, former national champion, and Hall of Fame member Patty Hogan. I was awestruck.

The facility was magnificent; a real blending of tradition and the “here and now”. The mahogany paneled walls. The green leather chairs. The flat screen video monitors throughout the room showing videos from past national championships. The highlight was the Wii platform tennis game simulator where I beat ten time men’s champion Rich Maier!

Touring the museum area I got to see a well organized  history of our sport. The collection of memorabilia was spectacular. Seeing the evolution wall of paddles was a lesson in history. Starting with the very first wooden paddles from the early days, to “layered” paddles with metal rims, to the composite paddles of today. A very thorough history. There were samples from various manufacturers that have come and gone: Marcraft, ARD, Sportscraft, Hedstrom, Vittert, to name but a few. There were pictures from days gone by and newspaper clippings from around the country that described the game, as well as articles from Sports Illustrated and video clips from Wide World of Sports. Who saved all these items? Thankfully someone did.

Moving to the “hall”, I saw the framed pictures of the seventy three Hall of Fame inductees with their respective biographies. As I moved from one picture to the next I realized there were certainly a lot of people who contributed to make platform tennis the sport it is. The videos of the acceptance speeches made me laugh and cry.

“Dad can you drive me to school?” Oh, my gosh, I over slept this morning, but what a dream I had!

The fact is the Platform Tennis Hall Museum and Hall of Fame is currently an empty room with unfinished studded walls, a cement floor, and a drop ceiling with only the metal lattice but no panels. While dreaming is for free, making The Platform Tennis Hall Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation a reality is not. Financial support is required to help make this dream come true. For more information you can contact the trustees at info@platformtennishalloffame.org or send donations to Post Office Box 413, Scarsdale, New York 10583.

what do you think? let me know! info@platformtennisnews.com

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