On Sunday afternoons, as well as Wednesday and Friday nights, you’ ll find club members honing their skills on one of ten tournament-grade tables. Joining the nonprofit is easy. You’ re in once you pay for a session- $ 3 for individuals and $ 5 for families. Dues go toward the upkeep of equipment and the facilities.
“ What we say is if you want to learn the game, come here, and somebody can help teach you. The more you play, the better you’ re going to get,” says Gordon Alstott, a 50-year SITTA member and its current president.
“ We try to separate ourselves from ping pong because we’ re a more elite group. So, when a basement ping pong player comes in, they just are in awe of how good we are. Of course, we’ ve been doing this for years,” adds the 75-year-old.“ But we aren’ t going to take it easy on you, because that’ s our sport.”
When giving a tour, Alstott notes the improvements his organization has made throughout the decades. The water fountain, roof and lighting have been upgraded. But the century-old wooden floors remain the same, making it easier on knees- a reason why competitors around the country enjoy playing here.
The New Albany native makes a point to introduce every person he passes and celebrates them by telling a bit of their story. You can find folks from various professions and national origins at any given session. Through the sport, Alstott connects people, making sure no one feels left out. It’ s not unusual, he says, for some of the players to grab dinner after they’ ve finished.
“ Everybody’ s the same. No one’ s any better,” the New Albany High School grad says.“ When you come to play table tennis, you take all that stuff off and get right to it.”
THE FIRST
A name keeps getting mentioned over and over again at SITTA... Bernard Hock.
Old newspaper clippings celebrating his accomplishment can be found throughout the facility. So can old tools he fashioned, which allowed him to create elite table tennis paddles renowned the world over. The association’ s yearly Harvest Homecoming tournament is even named after him.
But who is Hock?
“ Let me draw an analogy,” says McCaffrey.“ You know who Jamey Aebersold is? He’ s our local jazz guru. He’ s internationally known in the jazz circle, okay? Bernard Hock is to ping pong as Jamey Aebersold is to jazz music.”
So, let’ s first look at Hock’ s game. His resume reads sound. He won the Indiana Table Tennis Senior Championship six times and, alongside separate partners, claimed the 1950 and 1954 National Senior Doubles Championship. He was inducted into the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.
But it was his craft that made him a legend.
Hock designed, constructed and customized table tennis rackets that the world’ s elite players craved. From the 1940s through the 1960s, known as the“ Golden Age” of table tennis, champion after champion conquered their opponents with Hock paddles. According to the SITTA website, it’ s estimated Hock
Club member Tony Henderson plays a match at the Southern Indiana Table Tennis Association in New Albany.
PAGE NO. 22 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE MAY / JUNE 2025