Players of the Classic Age 1931-1966- World Class American Table Tennis Players of the Classic Age Volume IV

This Volume, No. IV, in our 6-Volume series of American Table Tennis Players of the Classic Age, published by United States Table Tennis Hall of Fame and Authored by Dean Johnson & Tim Boggan, features five of our most popular and beloved Legends -- Bernie Bukiet, Bobby Gusikoff, Erwin Klein and Leah and Tybie Thall.Bernie Bukiet’s life is an incredible story of survival. Table Tennis to Bernie was a passport to everything - to survival during World War II, to America and, finally, to becoming “a show business celebrity.”One day, during WWII, at 3 a.m., there's a knock on Bernie’s door. "What's your name?...gather up your belongings, you're coming with us." He’s put on a train and sent to a concentration camp in Russia.When he is finally released he has to go somewhere so he heads to Munich where he believes he may have some relatives.At a train station, by chance, he meets a man he's never seen before who says, "Hey, aren't you the table tennis player from before the War?" He takes Bernie home, gives him a room, and fixes him up with a job coaching at a club in Germany.Bernie went on to become a 3-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion, 6-time U.S. Men's Doubles champion, 3-time U.S. Mixed Doubles Champion and an 8-time Member of the U.S. Team to the World Championships -- not the "table tennis bum" some official had once called him...but a show-business celebrity.Bobby Gusikoff came from a very musical family. His mother’s father, Bohumil Kryl, had played the cornet for John Philip Sousa; his mother was a very accomplished pianist; and his father was a noted violinist and symphony orchestra conductor. But there would be no performance-concerts in Bobby’s future – his footsteps would have him traveling to a different kind of playing hall.Bobby’s introduction to table…