Remembering Marty Reisman

I was sad to be informed that Marty Reisman, one of the great table tennis players ever and quite a character, had died last December at age 81.

On a long Thanksgiving day in 2007 that I am proud to say included serving the less fortunate, I spent some time with Marty Reisman at a small gathering late that night.

There was quite a bit of intellect, frustration, and story telling at the table and Marty excelled at all of this. Most of Marty’s night was spent talking about himself and his exploits and at least for this one time, I was duly impressed. He had a skill and did something with it although some of it entailed true hustling. Certainly it was interesting.

Then later in the back and forth cross conversations Marty truly impressed me when he recalled his meeting the great Jesse Owens. Marty said Owens was what a champion was all about. We discussed not so much Owens’ great feats in winning at the 1936 Olympics, helping debunk horrible ideas being put forth about a “superior race, but the fact another Marty (Glickman) and fellow Jewish runner Sam Stoller were denied a chance to run and almost certainly win a gold medal in the relay race.

Jesse Owens already had three gold medals and did not want to deny the two Jewish runners their chance, but that is what happened. Marty Reisman, who did what many do in this mercenary country, recognized the horror and the prejudice. He marveled at Owens’ strength, though Jesse (some day I will tell you about another marvelous Jesse, named Krawitz) had to do what he was told. Mr. Reisman understood the impact, the history and the slow change. He was quite impressive doing so.

Here’s hoping Marty Reisman is playing table tennis with God. It would be one of the few times to ever even consider going vs Marty in the game he loved and contributed to so mightily.

Marty Reisman