Marty Reisman
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| Nationality | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 1 February 1930 Manhattan, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 7 December 2012 (aged 82) Manhattan, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Martin Reisman (February 1, 1930 – December 7, 2012) was an American champion table tennis player and author.[1] He was the 1958 and 1960 U.S. Men's singles champion and the 1997 U.S. hardbat champion. He was a proponent of the traditional hardbat style of table tennis.
Reisman was a staple in New York's table tennis community for decades, known for his ability, flamboyant style, and flair as a showman.
He was nicknamed "the Needle" due to his quick wit and slender build.[2]
Early life
Reisman was born on February 1, 1930, in Manhattan, New York to Sarah and Morris, an Ashkenazi Jewish couple. He grew up on East Broadway with his older brother, David.[3] His father worked as a cab driver.[3]
He started playing table tennis after experiencing a nervous breakdown at the age of nine and found it soothing. He went on to become the city junior champion at the age of 13.[4]
Table tennis career
As a hustler and showman
He began playing for bets and hustling for money at Lawrence's Broadway Table Tennis Club on 54th and Broadway. He would lure in challengers, intentionally lose the first few games, then suggest doubling the stakes before showing his true skill level and winning.
If a bet was large enough, he would play sitting down or blindfolded.[4] Sometimes, he would pull a $100 bill from a roll in his pocket and measure the height of the net.[5]
At the age of 15, he placed a $500 bet on himself at a national tournament in Detroit with a man he thought was a bookie. The man turned out to be the head of the United States Table Tennis Association. Police officers escorted Reisman out of the tournament.[4]
From 1949 to 1951, Reisman and Douglas Cartland toured the world performing a table tennis comedy routine for the opening act of the Harlem Globetrotters.[6] They hit balls with frying pans and the soles of their sneakers.[4]
Comedian Jonathan Katz recalled that he met and played against Reisman when he was a youth, and that Reisman was an amazing athlete.[7] Reisman once beat Katz with the flat end of a chess piece.[8]
Competitive play
Reisman won five bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships, starting with a men's team event bronze at 1948 World Table Tennis Championships, followed by three medals at the 1949 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's singles, the men's team and the mixed doubles with Peggy McLean. His fifth medal came in 1952 in the men's doubles with Douglas Cartland at the 1952 World Table Tennis Championships.
He won 22 major table tennis titles from 1946 to 2002, including two United States Opens and a British Open.[4]
Later life
Reisman became the oldest player to win an open national competition in a racket sport by winning the 1997 United States National Hardbat Championship at the age of 67.[9]
He continued to be one of the most visible and known personalities in the table tennis world. He was a flamboyant figure, known for regularly wearing fashionable, bright clothing, accompanied by his signature fedora and Panama hats.[10]
In 2008, he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Fellow guest, Matthew Broderick, mentioned Reisman while talking about his ping-pong hobby. Letterman then revealed Reisman was in the studio, emerging to perform his signature trick of attempting to split a cigarette with a ping-pong ball live on stage.[11]
Reisman was president of Table Tennis Nation at the time of his death in December 2012.[12]
Personal life
He was married to Yoshiko Reisman and had one daughter, Debbie.
Death
He died on December 7, 2012, in Manhattan, New York due to heart and lung complications.
Film
Marty Supreme is an upcoming film inspired by Marty Reisman. Josh Safdie directed the film and Timothée Chalamet stars in the lead role. Although not a biographical film, the fictional lead character 'Marty Mauser,' a table tennis hustler from the Lower East Side, was loosely based on Reisman.
Bibliography
Reisman's autobiography, The Money Player, The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Player and Hustler was published in 1974. Publisher: Morrow, ISBN 0-688-00273-0
See also
- List of select Jewish table tennis players
- List of table tennis players
- List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists
References
- ^ "Profile". Table Tennis Guide.
- ^ "Table tennis champ Marty Reisman dies in NYC at 82 - UPI.com". UPI. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ a b "Marty Reisman – US Table Tennis Hall of Fame". 2025-03-17. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
- ^ a b c d e Douglas Martin (7 December 2012). "Marty Reisman, 82, Wizard of Table Tennis, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Archived from the original on 2025-06-22. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
- ^ "Marty Reisman, Table Tennis Champ". Jewish Currents. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
- ^ "Comedian Jonathan Katz on His Life with MS 1". EverydayHealth.com. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
- ^ "A Woman Like That, episode #122 of Sklarbro Country on Earwolf".
- ^ Bennett, Roger; Horowitz, Eli (2 November 2010). Everything You Know Is Pong: How ... Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062016614. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
- ^ "Marty Reisman, 82, a Wizard of Table Tennis, Dies (Published 2012)". 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ giorno81 (2008-07-10). Marty Reisman on the Late Show with David Letterman. Retrieved 2025-08-26 – via YouTube.
{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Home". tabletennisnation.com.
External links
- Table Tennis Nation
- Full biography Archived 2007-01-11 at the Wayback Machine at USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame. Accessed November 2006.
- Interview With Marty Reisman Archived 2006-10-01 at the Wayback Machine at USA Table Tennis By Tyra Parkins 2001. Accessed November 2006.
- Marty Reisman article at hardbat.com
- A Giant Misunderstanding Nearly Made A Giant-killer Of The Author, by Parton Keese
- A Little Night Music by Ray Kennedy
- Obituary in The New York Times
Sklarbro Country (2012-11-23). "a woman like that". www.earwolf.com/show/sklarbro-country/ (Podcast). earwolf.com. Event occurs at 45:48. Retrieved 2012-12-17.