(Intro by Steve Hopkins)

Augusta-based sports writer Johnathan McGinty has released Part 1 of his series about the early history of college table tennis in the US.  The article is titled “The Pursuit of Belonging: The amazing and untold story of the Anderson College and Augusta College table tennis dynasties”.   This article includes quotes from Pete May, Derek May, Steve Hopkins, Richard McAfee, Willy Leparulo and Greg Riley and also references Mark Hopkins, Scott Butler, John Onifade, and others.

The article compares Anderson College and Augusta College to football rivalries like Alabama and Clemson or basketball rivalries like Duke and North Carolina.  Part One takes a look at the start of both programs.  Part Two promises a review of the dominance of the two programs and how those programs in the 80s and 90s helped lay the foundation for the growth and evolution of the sport.

“In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were only two college programs you needed to pay attention to if you were following the sport of table tennis.  Anderson College and Augusta College were roughly 90 minutes apart, located in the Deep South.  At their height, these two tiny schools would have no equal. They were the Alabama to the other’s Clemson; the North Carolina to the other’s Kentucky. “We had these two all-star teams, 90 miles apart in these little schools, going up and competing for the national championships every year,” said Derek May, a star on the Augusta College squads.”

The full article can be found here.

The pursuit of belonging

Interested in USA College Table Tennis?  Check out this PongNow Interview featuring Willy Leparulo, one of the visionaries of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association.