ITTF Hall of Fame

Baal wrote: We had a thread on that here a couple of years ago and we all agreed that it is absurd.

The ITTF has a gonzo sense of humor.  Randy Daytona, according to the Wikipedia ITTF Hall of Fame list of inductees, was the first person inducted, in 1993.  He played a table tennis player in the movie "Balls of Fury".  Or more likely it was Dan Holden, who set out the ITTF list of inductees for Wikipedia.  "Balls of Fury" came out in 2007.

Jimmy McClure was inducted as an officer, whatever that means, again according to Dan Holden's list, running from 1993 to 2013. 


Edited by berndt_mann - 08/04/2017 at 4:45pm

Ogimura is on the list.

Baal wrote: As for the Hall of Fame, if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. The way ITTF does it currently is not right. Haggis and I want to create an independent one.  We would have different criteria, possibly name a panel of people from here and over at OOAK forum and vote people in.

wilfred888 wrote: I don't have a problem with people like Chen Qi on the list, because it takes a lot of hard work to even be considered to represent China. If Chen Qi was given more opportunities who know what could've happened. However they should change the criteria to fit some more legends who definitely deserve it.

The problem is hardly who is in, though we can quibble over that for a while - the problem is who isn't and how that is decided.  Any HOF without Stellan Bengsston is utterly ridiculous.   You can take that to any dimension of the universe and it will hold true, even the universe of the absurd.

I don't have a problem with people like Chen Qi on the list, because it takes a lot of hard work to even be considered to represent China. If Chen Qi was given more opportunities who know what could've happened. However they should change the criteria to fit some more legends who definitely deserve it.

Zhang Li (Chang Li)

Istvan Joyner, the man who invented the "Chinese loop".  At this team event in WTTC, Hungary 5, China 1.  Again, in his era, no opportunity to play in Olympics. He also won several European championships, which in his era was arguably a greater accomplishment than now.  (One could also make that argument for Johansson and Bengtsson). 

From 1965.  Sweden vs. China.  There was a long history in that rivalry!  Sad it no longer exists.

larrytt wrote: Baal wrote:  Johannson was my idol as a player growing up.  He also had four wttcs (but admittedly never one in singles).   Johannson did make the final of Men's Singles in 1973, and was at 18-19 in the fifth before Xi Enting famously won with a net and an edge. He won Men's Doubles three times (twice with Hans Alser, once with Bengtsson). Sweden lost to China in the Men's Team finals three straight times in 1983, 1985, and 1987; not sure if he'd retired by then or was on perhaps the 1983 team.  Sweden would win the next three times, mostly because of Waldner, Persson, and Appelgren - but Appelgren, despite being #1 in the world, winning Men's Doubles and those three Men's Teams (where he'd beat most of the Chinese), and winning the World Cup, isn't eligible to be in the ITTF HoF.  -Larry Hodges

Edited by shaolinTT - 08/17/2014 at 5:07am

jfolsen, we can conclude that it is a lot easier for someone at ITTF to count to five than it is to actually do justice to the history of the sport, tell compelling stories about the players and the times they lived in, and really promote the sport.  That would actually take some thought.  World Cup means nothing to these people and silver medals don't count either. 

Excluding Joyner or Johannson is a crime, certainly if you are including players like Wang Tao, Peter Karlsson, and Chen Qi.

Here is another example -- going back in time, compare Jimmy McClure of USA (in hall) with Ruth Aarons of USA (not in).  Exact contemporaries.  Ruth Aarons is a two time world singles champion, a Jewish woman who won her first WTTC in Prague in 1936 by defeating a German player.  Jimmy McClure never won a world singles title.  There are great stories around a bunch of these players I am sure.  Johannson was my idol as a player growing up.  He also had four wttcs (but admittedly never one in singles).  But he needs to be there because even after he retired he played a role in developing Swedish table tennis.

In other sports accommodation is made for contributions to a sport that don't just show up in playing statistics.  That is why Yao Ming is in the basketball hall of fame.  He was a really really good player, probably not a great one, and if so, not for very long, but his contributions to growing the popularity of the sport were recognized.

Istvan Jonyer:

Gold

1971 Nagoya

Doubles

Gold

1975 Calcutta

Doubles

Gold

1975 Calcutta

Singles

Gold

1979 Pyongyang

Team

And yet someone thinks that isn't enough?

jfolsen

viva wrote: fatt wrote: Where are Jaques Secretin, Marty Reisman and igorponger? + 1 for igor

shouldn't a world champ in singles admitted immediately? shouldn't an olympic winner in singles as well? so people like stellan bengtsson, werner schlager and ruy sung min are in automatically imo.

Where are Jaques Secretin, Marty Reisman and igorponger?