History

The first national table tennis championship was staged in 1931 by the American Ping Pong Association (APPA). Only the men's singles was contested.

The APPA was controlled by Parker Brothers, which held the trademark on the word "ping pong," and only Parker Brothers equipment was allowed in the tournament. The New York Table Tennis Association staged its own "national tournament" the next two years, in opposition to the APPA tournament.

In the meantime, several other table tennis associations sprang up around the country. In October of 1933, they organized the U. S. Table Tennis Association (USTTA), which took over the New York tournament. Most of the APPA members left the Parker Brothers organization by 1935, and the APPA tournament went out of business.

The USTTA tournament was open to all comers. In 1936, though, there was a special closed division, for U. S. citizens only, that was used to select U. S. representatives at the world championships that year. That's considered the first U. S. national championship. There wasn't another until 1976, when the U. S. national tournament was inaugurated.

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