Hall-of-Famer can't stop challenges from upstarts

South Fort Myers man has won multiple titles

By DAVE KEMPTON
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

Marvin Leff is 70 years old and people still think they can beat him in table tennis.

Leff takes calls from strangers asking if they can stop by his south Fort Myers home and play a game, and gets challenges from European visitors at a local table tennis club in the winter months.

Leff recently captured the U.S. Open singles and doubles titles in the 70-plus division in Fort Lauderdale, marking the sixth time the new Southwest Florida resident has won a United States Table Tennis Association championship.

Leff has been playing the sport for 58 years, starting as a 12-year-old in Chicago, winning the All-American singles title in 1951, taking a 22-year break to run a business and raise a family, and then returning to win the Florida singles title at age 53.

"I will still get a call from someone from out of state, asking if I would play a few games, thinking it's a simple game and everyone plays the same," Leff said. "They don't understand it's not a simple game at my level. I always say, 'No thanks.' "

Leff, coached by Hall-of-Fame legend Marty Prager starting in 1947, has made concessions to age, especially against players in their 20s and in particular international players from China and Sweden. The Far East and Europe dominate the elite world table tennis scene.

"The kids in my Columbus Park neighborhood of Chicago all told me to go away, that I was too small," Leff said. "But I hooked up with Marty and guess who won when I showed up at the park next time. Now I've literally spent a lifetime playing the sport.

"When I was young, you couldn't make a living at table tennis, so it became more recreational, with several big tournaments every year," said Leff, who owned a stationery and rubber stamp business in Miami before moving to Fort Myers in 2004 and working in commercial real estate.

"When you get older, it gets harder, particularly in table tennis, because it's all reaction," Leff said. "I think it's important to know your limitations and where you're at."

Leff has used both physical and mental control to become a Hall-of-Fame player himself. He can still make the ball sail softly into the corner of the table or make it rise, then drop sharply in an exaggerated curve, or just simply power it past an opponent.

Sometimes the mental spin can win the point.

"There's a lot of psychology involved in the game because of the close proximity of the players,'' Leff said. "You're so close you can smell each other."

Leff partnered with George Brathwaite of New York City to capture the U.S. Open doubles title. Brathwaite is remembered as a member of the 1972 U.S. team that visited China with President Nixon and started "pingpong diplomacy."

"I've known this young man since we were playing as teenagers," Brathwaite said. "Marvin is very consistent, he returns everything. His wife got us together for this year's competition."

Leff's wife of 43 years, Caron, has been immersed in table tennis for 44 years, first as a player and recently as a USA Table Tennis official. She served as a USATT liaison with the International Table Tennis Federation at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"We've made marvelous friends throughout the world and I would like to create and develop junior programs and increase the image of our sport," Caron Leff said.

The Leffs have a professional-level Stiga table in their garage and Marvin now uses a sponge racket.

"The change from hard rubber to sponge rackets created not only a much faster game, but a more complicated game," said Leff, who practices with a specially made ball machine that fires shots at a rapid pace at all heights and different spins.