Leah Neuberger

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Leah Neuberger (née Thall ; born December 17, 1915 in Columbus (Ohio) , † January 25, 1993 in Manhattan ) was the best American table tennis player in the 1950s . In 1956 she won the mixed world championship.

Names

At first she played under her maiden name Leah Thall . In 1948 she married Ty Neuberger and was now listed as Leah Neuberger or Leah Neuberger-Thall or Leah Thall-Neuberger . She was often called simply Miss Ping .

World championships

Between 1947 and 1969 Neuberger competed in 11 world championships . She achieved her greatest success at the 1956 World Cup in Tokyo. Here she became world champion in mixed together with Erwin Klein (USA) after winning the final over Ivan Andreadis / Ann Haydon .

In the team competition of the 1951 World Cup in Vienna, she won against Trude Pritzi and was then ranked third in the ITTF world rankings .

With her sister Thelma Thall (later Thelma Sommer) she won bronze at the 1948 World Cup , after having previously defeated the world-class double Pritzi / Rozeanu .

She won further bronze medals at the 1947 World Cup with the American team and doubles with Davida Hawthorn and at the 1951 World Cup in singles and doubles with Pauline Ickhoff.

Successes in the USA and Canada

At the open American championships between 1949 and 1974 she won a total of 29 first places, 9 times in singles, 12 times in doubles and 8 times in mixed. At the open championships of Canada, she won 11 times in singles and 30 times in doubles or mixed. In 1958 she was ranked number one in the US.

Others

As part of the ping-pong diplomacy , she visited China with the Canadian table tennis team and also spoke to Prime Minister Zhou Enlai .

In 1980 Leah Neuberger was inducted into the Hall of Fame , and in 1999 the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . In 2005 she received the Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award .

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
United States  World Championship  1969  Munich  FRG   last 64  last 32  Agony   
United States  World Championship  1967  Stockholm  SWE   last 64  last 32  last 128  18th 
United States  World Championship  1963  Prague  TCH   last 32  last 64  last 64   
United States  World Championship  1959  Dortmund  FRG   last 128  Quarter finals  last 64   
United States  World Championship  1957  Stockholm  SWE   last 64  last 64  last 32  12 
United States  World Championship  1956  Tokyo  JPN   last 16  Quarter finals  gold  4th 
United States  World Championship  1955  Utrecht  NED   last 64  last 64  last 32  10 
United States  World Championship  1954  Wembley  CLOSELY   last 64  last 16  last 16  14th 
United States  World Championship  1951  Vienna  AUT   Semifinals  Semifinals  last 64  7th 
United States  World Championship  1948  Wembley  CLOSELY   Quarter finals  Semifinals  last 32  5 
United States  World Championship  1947  Paris  FRA   last 32  Semifinals  last 32  3

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tim Boggan : SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY - HISTORY OF US TABLE TENNIS - Volume I (1928-1939): "The Formative Years" (accessed November 29, 2015)
  2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1958/7 West issue, page 2
  3. ^ Jewish hall of Fame
  4. ↑ Leah Neuberger results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed on September 13, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Neuberger, Leah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neuberger-Thall, Leah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American table tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Columbus (Ohio)
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1993
Place of death Manhattan