! VOLUME
III, Number 3
21 January 1963 !
.1.930 24 JAN 63
At NAVSTA
1400 24 JAN 63
At COMMSTA
USO SHOW
"DICK MILES TABLE TENNIS SHOW1*
Most Americans consider table tennis as a pastime, seldom as a sport. One
reason, perhaps, is because almost every service club or rec hall has set up
a moderate-sized table, and left the paddles and balls for anyone to while away
a few minutes.
This is not the kind of game that Dick Miles and his competitors believe in,
however* Theirs is the fast play, featuring vicious chops with the paddles and
sending the celluloid balls whizzing toward opponents at speeds up to 110 miles
per hour.* This is the type of game played by thousands in Europe and Asia,
where table tennis is taken seriously enough to stage matches before paying
spectators*
Dick Miles, a slim collegiate-type New Yorker in his mid-thirties, likes to trave?
the USO circuits to display his technique* He also likes to drive a sporty white
Caravelle; vacation in the Bahamas, and wear sneakers* He has dominated American
competition since 1945 and he claims to be the only man in the United States who
makes his living from playing table tennis. One reason he got into this game,
he says, is because when he started he was "too small to lift a tennis racquet”.
On tour with him for this exhibition is Norbert Van De Walle, a Belgian-born ex
speed skater, who now lives in Chicago. Van De Walle attended public schools in
the Windy City, and razzale-dazzlad everyone with his style of table tennis* He
is an expert in comedy and trick shots; traveled v/ith Dick Miles on a 1961 USO
tour in Europe, and, is a perfect foil for the Champ’s comedy efforts* The show
actually features comedy with the small paddles to lift it out of straight ex
hibition or demonstration of playing skills*
To brighten up the scenery there is a Mistress of Ceremonies, an eye-filling, darl
haired Diana Seymour from Sarasota, Florida, who also will serve 'as score keeper.
Diana is on her first USO tour after a brief encounter with office work in Los
Angeles* Now she is making her debut in shor business. Diana was once interestec
in a clown makeup during her high school days in Sarasota. The Circus Hall of
Fame and the Ringling Brothers Museum are located in the city, and for years it
was famous as winter quarters for the Big Show and its troupers. These have made
their impression on Sarasota youngsters, and even the city high school maintains
an annual event called the Sarasota Sailor Circus* Thus Diana knows all about
tanbark and floodlights.