James Gibb

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James Gibb (born December 11, 1853 in Marholm (Northamptonshire), † April 14, 1930 in Southwold ) was an English engineer and businessman. He led the table tennis ball from celluloid one in Europe.

Career

James Gibb was active as a track and field athlete in the 1870s. From 1874 to 1878 he won several races over five and ten miles and also set new records. In 1875 he published the first rules of the game for what was then known as space tennis or lawn tennis. In 1880 he was one of the co-founders of the English athletics umbrella organization Amateur Athletic Association .

In the same year he joined the London company Baines & Tait , which then renamed itself Baines, Tait & Gibb . From 1881 it operated under the name James Gibb & Co . On one of his company trips to America, he discovered the celluloid ball, which he recognized as useful for table tennis and therefore brought it to Europe. The point in time of this discovery is not entirely clear: From the ship's papers it is clear that he visited America in November 1887 as well as in November 1890. Often the latter trip and thus the year 1891 is mentioned as the introduction of the colorful celluloid ball in England. It replaced the corks or rubber balls that had been in use until then. However, the ball did not achieve the later quality: It consisted of two halves that overlapped.

In 1912 James Gibb retired. He died in 1930 after a long illness.

Claimed performance in table tennis

There are some claims about what James Gibb is supposed to have done or what he is supposed to be responsible for, but which are at least controversial.

According to newspaper reports in The Times of April 15, 1930 and Isle of Wight Mercury of April 18 and 25, 1930, Gibb was the namesake and inventor of the ping-pong game. The then president of the table tennis world association ITTF Ivor Montagu advocates this thesis in his book Table Tennis , published in 1936 . However, during this time - in the 1870s - there were other people who further developed lawn tennis in the direction of ping-pong or today's table tennis, such as Harry Gem from Leamington. Walter Clopton Wingfield also patented a similar game in 1874.

It is also doubtful whether James Gibb actually invented the name ping-pong . Because not he, but the Hamley Brothers company patented this term on August 6, 1901.

Private

James Gibb had four older siblings. In 1886 he married Kate Lucia Clarke († June 16, 1953).

literature

  • [AD] Alan Duke: James Gibb , The Table Tennis Collector 67, February 2013, pages 8-10 Online (accessed November 9, 2014)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b [AD] page 10
  2. ↑ Thomas Matzke: Effects of the rule changes in table tennis with special consideration of the medial effectiveness of sport , master's thesis (matriculation: 104272) at the institute for sport science, chair "social sciences / sport education" in cooperation with the "institute for physics" Ernst-Moritz-Arndt- University of Greifswald, page 6 Online (accessed April 11, 2019)
  3. ↑ Table Tennis News No. 155, January 1986, page 6 Online (accessed November 9, 2014)
  4. ↑ [AD] page 8
  5. ↑ [AD] page 9
  6. ↑ Table Tennis Collector No. 59, February 2011, page 5 (accessed April 11, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Gibb, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English engineer and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Marholm (Northamptonshire)
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1930
Place of death Southwold