In the sauna of our garage yesterday, Chris and I pulled out the ping-pong table and went at it for an hour or so. (Modesty prevents me from reporting the results, especially since he’s just now getting to where it could go the other way.) The weekend before, we’d gone up to play with Matt at Baylor Med School’s student center.
This love for ping-pong began when I was just, I’m guessing, seven or eight. When we moved into our new house on Reid Road in Neosho, my dad set up a table in the basement. We played for YEARS . . . night after night after night. I became pretty good at the game, but much more important was the time I spent with my dad all those evenings.
Some of my favorite Harding memories are of playing in the evenings with Jerry Jones, chairman of the Bible department at the time, and Dwaine Powell, my roommate. Jerry was a patient, return specialist. Dwaine and I would slam away, time after time, and Jerry would keep sending them back.
When Matt was about six we bought a table. He and I played night after night for many years. When he got a bit older, we often went up to ACU to play whoever was in the table tennis room. Long after he could kill me in basketball, running, wrestling, and nearly any other sport you can name, I could hold my own in ping-pong.
Chris started when he was first able to hold a paddle. He didn’t want to be left out while his dad and older brother were playing.
Now it’s a blast to have the three of us together with the winner holding the table. (For the record, the two women in our family are pretty good themselves.)
Any other ping-pong families out there? Or, what is it that brings you together for an evening of fun (and competition!)?
Our ping-pong table was out on our covered patio for many years while the boys were growing up. Our oldest moved into the “Sig Shack” (occupied by boys from the same ACU social club) across the street in his Jr. year of college. He moved that table over there, and little brother could go play with him and his friends there. Our youngest was still in high school and then eventually went to the same college and even moved into the same house. So our ping-pong table withstood many years of use from many many young men. I remember they had to prop the legs with stuff to make it level. Hubby started out playing with them, teaching them when they were little, then they could teach him a thing or two.
I just love the sounds of the ping-pong ball wafting through the air from their house across the street. Even though they weren’t under my roof any more, I knew they were safe and in good company.
Just feeling my empty nest intensely this weekend, Mike. Baby boy graduated from ACU Friday night and arrived in Lubbock Sat. morning, for grad school.
Treasure those moments with Chris, as I know you do.
In fact, I played this past week at a youth camp in Maine…even remembered to bring my 20 year old paddle with me. I was sad to see that many campers don’t even play the game. My boys love it. We had a table in NY but sold it when we moved to NH. Just the other day one of my sons said we should get another one. Ping-Pong definitely is one of those “nothing brings a family together like….” events.
In my post-grad education, I would spend two weeks with a cohort and the highlight of that time was our little “tournament” during the evenings. A bunch of religious folk playing the game together…now that’s competition!
My kids are just 7 & 5, but we love a good game of Cranium: The Family Fun Game or Pokemon: Master Trainer (both board games). We are trying to teach them how to be a good winner or a good loser. One trick: Winner cleans up. This prevents some of the gloating.
My dad’s claim to fame was never losing a game of ping pong or 42 while at Abilene Christian in the early 50’s. In fact, I don’t recall my dad ever losing a game of ping pong, but at 76, you could probably take him Mike. I was always more interested in turning the ping pong table into an indoor baseball park - kind of a wiffle-ping-pong game of sorts.
Ping-Pong is great! I spent many late nights at Harding playing.
This year at camp, I challenged all the campers. I told them that if any of them could beat me at Ping-Pong, I would buy them anything they wanted from the Canteen. I had a few challengers, but none of them claimed the prize.
My son is starting to get interested in the game. We may have to cruise the garage sales for a used table to put in the basement.
Around the world ping pong is pretty fun for large groups, including the not so accomplished players. You need to try it.
I am surprised you do not mention the sting pong aspect of this game. I do not play, but I have laughed til I cried at the marks on my boys’ bellies.
Many people don’t know this about me but I toured Asia under the name Ching Wa and won 874 consectutive games.
Okay, a tad bit of hyperbole there.
I do enjoy the game.
My family did not have the space or the money for a ping pong table, so my Dad bought a net and rigged up a way to attach it to our formica-topped dining room table. For years, we would clean off the table after dinner, install the net, and play ping pong. The table was much smaller than regulation size, of course, which only honed our accuracy. By the time I got to college and could play on real tables, I was pretty good.
I remember playing ping-pong game after game after game at your house, Mike. I too, became pretty adept at it, but never was able to beat you, except at Donkey Ping-Pong. I do remember the ping-pong tournaments at Green Valley and finally winning one my last year as a camper. I finally hit the big time. When I had my own family, it was playing baseball, basketball and anything else out back. Now that the Empty Next has arrived, it is quiet evenings with my Bride. I’ll take that any day.y
I REMEMBER LUNCH TIME AT HGSR, WHEN I WOULD PLAY SOME GAMES; MIKE, I THINK YOU MAY HAVE BEATEN ME A FEW TIMES.
WE DON’T PLAY OFTEN, BUT IT’S A FUN TIME WHEN I CAN PLAY WITH MY 3 SONS; JESSE, DANIEL, AND AARON. MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER ALSO ENJOY PLAYING AND TRICIA MAY BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE OF US ALL.
When I was five, my Dad built a ping pong table of wood that sat on two saw-horses and put it in our cramped den. My brother and I would sit underneath the table while adults played just hoping that a ball would come so that we could retrieve it. Over time, we both were able to beat him and have gone on to teach our boys how to play. At ACU our tennis team would go from the courts to the ping-pong tables regulary. So…. if you’re ever up for a night of ping-pong, you know where to find us.
Mark - I love that story!
Scott - Maybe we need a father/son evening of ping-pong! Our garage is available. Love the image of Bob building a table and putting it in a cramped den. Kudos to Betty for putting up with it.
Buzz - Great reminder of the joy of donkey ping-pong.
Clash of the Titans = Jerry Jones vs. Buddy Bell at the University of Alabama C of C student center somewhere around 1989. I have never witnessed such an epic battle before or since! Funney thing, though — I can’t remember who won!
I got my start in ping pong at Palmetto Bible Camp in Upstate SC. I was the reigning junior ping-pong champ for several years. A little later my mom was running a day care center, and they had a table. My dad and I had many games there, and it was nearly as much fun for me as us playing catch (baseball) in the backyard. (I was a pitcher at the YMCA leagues, and his poor knees took a beating as he knelt down wearing his bright blue catcher’s mitt. (hey, it was the 70’s!))
My dad worked rotating shiftwork so there were 2 weeks each month where he was not available. But I cherish those times I did get with him. Learning from and competing with all at the same time. (and even schooling him on occasion!)
I really love ping pong.
I had similar experiences with my father growing up. I’m 44 now, and while I can’t outrun them, I can beat (usually soundly) all of my sons (ages 17,15 and 13) in table tennis. And all of their friends too. Especially when I’m wearing my headband and wristbands.
I am undefeated in my own garage.
Just curious–do you make your opponents (including your son) serve correctly (from open palm, above table, no spin) or do you allow them to hit it out of their hand?
In 1977 at Camp Alta Mons in Shawsville, Virginia, I was in the church camp final. When I saw that my opponent was going to serve out of his hand, I refused to play him unless he served correctly. He complied, and I went on to crush him. He complained to his preacher, who then chastised me for “not playing fairly.”
I was just wondering if all preachers were like that.
I don’t mean to brag, but I was ping pong champion at the Pine Springs Summer Camp back in the late 70’s, defeater of all campers, counselors and instructors at the age of about 12…………Those are great memories.
I did play with an old man for a bit when I lived in El Paso. We would both tie on one of those cloth nail bags with the two pouches, then fill them up with ping pong balls, maybe 20 or 30 of them each. We would just keep hitting and hitting, if a ball went flying, we’d just grab another one out of the pouch until they were all gone. Then we would -pick them all up and go at it again. That was pure, intense ping pong fun, though we might have stepped on a ball every now and then.
I started playing ping-pong when I was five or six when my dad took me to Wyldewood to stay the week with him as he worked. Litttle did I know that my dad had been a ping-pong champion at Freed, Harding, and tournaments in the Mid-south during the 50’s and early 60’s. The amazing thing about this is that he is crippled. We must have played hundreds and hundreds of games while I was growing up, and I finally beat him as a teenager in Liberia playing at Tom and Anita Drinnen’s house. That was both a great day, and a sad one. Great that I had FINALLY beat him, yet sad to realize he was getting to the age he couldn’t move like he once could. Even after that one win, he beat me more times than I beat him. Dad was a great father and minister, but his claim to fame may have been his ability to play tennis and ping-pong. I cherish those hours of taking a beating, because of WHO I was taking the beating from. I learned from the Master about ping-pong, and so MANY other things while we were playing. I cherish those memories.
DU
I’d comment, but I’ve gotta run. I feel the strong urge to buy a ping pong table for my family!
We put a ping pong table in our basement and play a bit. My daughter was the first to perfect the “serve off the adjacent wall” shot that I still have difficulty handling. The fun starts when I use that shot every time one of older son’s friends comes over and wants to try to take on the old man. Undefeated thus far I am, but my days are numbered.
My family still sets up ping-pong tournaments when we go to the lake. Dad is the king of the spin, kids and grandkids play for pride and glory, but at 70 years old, my mom (the matriarch of the bunch) still can beat us all. It drives her grandchildren (who are really good athletes) crazy to lose to their little gray haired grandmother!
She often tells the story of playing in a tournament when she was 8 months pregnant with me. Before that she always had a problem standing too close to the table. Forced by her protruding belly to move back, she made it all the way to the finals.
The Aggie wing at the old A&M Church of Christ in College Station was a fabulous place for late-night best-of-13 matches with my ol’ buddies, Ben Pickett and Jonathan Hackett. After our Wednesday night AFC meetings, the custodial staff would pull back all of the partitions, stack the chairs against the wall, and Ben or Jonathan and I would show up around 9 or so with a contraband key, pull out the table to the middle of the 80′ x 50′ floor and get after it. For a while there, we were able to pull off some great rallies from 8-10′ behind the table. Then we’d pull off our *soaked* t-shirts, hop in our cars and head to 7-11 for a Goober Si Bulp. Man, those were the days.
qb
It wasn’t ping pong for us, but cards. My dad knew all kinds of different poker games from his days in the navy (along with all the lingo), so we’d hunt down all the pennies we could find in the house and sit around the table. I could hold my own against my dad and brothers most of the time, but when I couldn’t, my dad would “float me a loan” of his almost always large pile of pennies. My mom didn’t usually play, but she taught my how to play Rummy and would tell me about when she was a little girl playing Rummy with her grandmother.
Now when we all get together, it’s either Canasta or Dominoes!
I have a sneaking suspicion that ping pong was a bit of a deal sealer for Grant before we got married. We would head to the Campus Center after chapel before lunch and play some mean ping pong games. I think he usually won, but I don’t think he would have kept playing against me if hadn’t been somewhat of a challenge!!!
I have many fond memories of ping-pong…
My dad taught me and beat me many times until I was in high school. He is a lefty and could spin it like nobody’s business!
I also remember playing with Avon Malone at Oklahoma Christian. What a great day that was…playing with a professor who knew the Bible backwards and forwards…yet was willing to play ping-pong with a couple of Bible students. And, yes…he whooped us all!
My dad is in his early-60’s, but also grew up playing ping pong in the family basement, and also eventually went to Harding and played a lot of games there. We didn’t have a ping pong table at our house when I was a kid, but if we visited my grandparents or came across a table elsewhere, it was always fun to play with Dad, or even watch him play someone else — I’d watch him casually put a spin here or return a slam there and think, ‘how cool is my Dad?’
Eventually I had opportunities to play a bit, and I can hang, but I’m sure I couldn’t take him today if he’s playing his A game.
Great topic! Very nostalgic for me.
now we’ve heard from all the GREAT players, what about all the also-rans like myself…i played often at OCC against some asian students….well. oh, by the way, whats a basement? where do these people live?
I remember spanking Chris back in May.
He had already beat me twice by like 21-7, and then he had mercy on me and played left handed.
Mike,
From watching my blog traffic, I can see that I get several hits a month with people looking for “mike cope sings the classics”. I assume the searches are coming to me because someone mentioned it once upon a time.
If you have this elusive bit of media, would you please post it, or link us to it, or something?
Thanks.
We had a ping pong table in our basement, too. We don’t have a place for it anymore, but I sure do miss it. Great fun!
Mike - many thanks for updating your Highland podcasts. Hope to meet you this Sunday.
I grew up playing ping pong on our dining room table. With the leaves in it was almost regulation length, but if a ball hit the crack where the leaves came together, there was no telling which direction it would bounce. When our sons were pre school age, my Daddy got a piece of plywood and painted it like a ping pong table…and we balanced it on a card table in a 10′x11′ bedroom. On one wall of that bedroom was a basketball goal, and in the back yard we had a baseball field mowed out…so you could pick your sport as our sons grew up!
Mike,
I graduated from Cassville High in Missouri, not far from you in Neosho. I rarely lost a game until I got to OCC. What a transition it was, going from high school ping pong to college! But my reflexes caught up and I lost a whole year of college because of the sport. If the action was intense there was no leaving a ping pong table for something as trivial as a class.
When I was 16, despite few technical skills, I won my age group’s ping pong championship at Hillbrook Christian Campground in Karns, Tennessee in a massive and tensely played upset. Twenty-three years llater, my youngest son would win the pingpong title in his age group at the same campground. Like you suggest, MIke, it’s a great bonding game. Perhaps we should have Church of Christ pingpong tournaments at the various university and preaching school lectureships. On the other hand, it might just be one more issue to debate.
DavidU - hope you will see this…I remember your dad well from camp. fond memory, thanks.
We have been considering buying a ping pong table now for a while. Well, you’ve sold us on the idea!!! Sounds like a great family activity!!! Thanks for sharing.
I can vouch for the fact that Chris has been playing since he could hold a paddle. I remember many fond games with him on those Sunday nights when you and Diane were at covenant group! Thanks for reminding me of some great memories!
P.S. When covered with newspaper or a tablecloth, Ping Pong tables also double really well as arts and crafts tables or extra eating tables when you have lots of company. Our family has discovered a wide variety of uses for the Ping Pong table at our house!
Even I played a mean game of ping pong - played sufficiently well to beat dad, younger brother, uncle and later, my submarine sailor husband. Haven’t played in years, but have wonderful memories of those games.
I too, like Bob Cheatham ask, “what’s a basement?” LOL
We southern California kids have never heard of such a thing.
Michael Summers said: “Perhaps we should have Church of Christ pingpong tournaments at the various university and preaching school lectureships. On the other hand, it might just be one more issue to debate.”
You’re probably right. We’d have those who serve legally from a flat palm (”The Tossers”) vs. those who serve illegally and hit it out of their hand (”The Palmers”).
Preacher Mike, you never answered my question. Where do you stand on this important issue?
My father passed the gift of ping pong addiction as soon as he could convince our mother to cover the pool table. Conversations always drifted from the hilarious to the most revealing family secret we could imagine. My brother Matt is still using his ping pong skills to humble people in universities from oklahoma to germany! now that i have discovered open tournaments in one of the malls in our city (as well as a ping pong semi-pro academy just up the beach), i feel the itch to break out my A-game once again! Shout out to Ching Wa…..AND Heather A.
Ping pong and Spades were both big deals back at the UTA (University of Texas at Arlington) Bible Chair.
Every spring, Bible Chair groups from all over Texas would meet at a Christian camp in Athens, TX for a Bible Chair Olympics.
Two of the most prestigious awards went to the winners of the ping-pong tournaments and spades tournaments.
Freda, I saw your comment…….thanks! How do I get ahold of you?
DU
What Scott failed to mention is that this is one sport I could beat him at . . . occasionally . . . just once in awhile. He and I would have marathon matches, esp. in the winter months when it was too cold to be out on the tennis courts. We’d finish 46 games to 41 or some crazy numbers like that. Ping Pong is great for the aging knees. Not as much ground to cover.
I, as “Toad,” am king of the Mario Kart Racing Circuit on Nintendo 64. Or at least I was until my kids got older. Now, Yoshi beats me on a fairly regular basis.
Mike, I remember being shocked at how good your Dad was when I first played him at a family reunion. I think he beat me something like 21-3. (We originally planed to go the reunion this year but something important came up. Tell the folks we missed seeing them there).
We had a table in my teen years as well. The challange was having only a foot on either side to get the ball. Crashed into it more than once.
I really enjoyed playing while at ACU as well. I was really disapointed the first time I went in after they remodeled basement of the the student center and discovered the ping pong room was no more.
I haven’t seen any tables so far in Germany. Now it seem the only time I play is at an occasional family reunion.
Ultimate Spades Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.ultimatespades.com
entirely safe and fun Very helpful!