James McClure (table tennis)

James Hodgson "Jimmy" McClure ( born September 28, 1916 in Indianapolis, † 12 February 2005) was an American table tennis player. He was three times world champion in doubles and once with the team.

Sports career

First, McClure dedicated to the sport of tennis. As a 15 - year-old he won twice the tennis tournament in Indianapolis and again three years later.

At 18, he began with the table tennis sport. 1934 and 1939 he won the U.S. Open. From 1935 to 1951 he took part in six World Cups. In individual he never came over the Round of 32. In doubles, but he was more successful. 1936 in Prague, he became world champion for the first time with Robert Blattner through a playoff victory over the Czechs Stanislav Kolář / J. Okter Petricek. In 1937 he defended with the same partner the title by winning the final against Richard Bergmann / Helmut Goebel from Austria. In this tournament he won also the title with the American team. In 1938 he won the third doubles title, this time with Sol ship in which he prevailed in the final against the Hungarians Victor Barna / Laszlo Bellak. In the team competition, he won bronze in 1938. In 2011, he was out in the ITTF world rankings at number seven.

The Second World War interrupted McClure's athletic career. He served in the U.S. Navy. After the war he went on to win the World Cup 1949 bronze with the team, in 1951 he was with the team in fourth. In 1956 he ended his sports career.

1993 McClure was included in the ITTF Hall of Fame, to which he was instrumental in founding.

After the End of career

1946 McClure was on the advice of his uncle James Hodgson member of a Masonic Lodge. In 1957 he married Nellie L. Orr, the marriage remained childless. He took on several tasks as a functionary in the American Table Tennis Association USATT.

Results from the ITTF database