Athletes: Ruth Aarons

Ruth Aarons (1918-1980) was an American teenage table tennis champion. She was known for her wins at the World Championships and for her performances at night clubs and in theaters. After retiring from table tennis, she went on to manage big stars, like David Cassidy.

For Further Reading: 

• Ruth Aarons - United States Table Tennis Hall of Fame 
• Steve Isaacson Interview: Honoring Ruth Aarons - Butterfly Table Tennis 
• Righting a wrong

This month we're celebrating the women who performed physical and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles, and fierce competition to pursue their dreams of glory. We're talking about Athletes.

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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month, we're celebrating women who performed physical
and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles,
and fierce competition to pursue their dreams of glory. We're
talking about athletes today. We're talking about the first and

(00:24):
to this day only American woman to win the World
Table Tennis Championships. And she did it when she was
just a teenager. Let's talk about Ruth Aerns in nineteen eighteen.
Ruth was born in Stanford, Connecticut, to parents in show business.
Her mother was a light opera singer and her father
was a Broadway producer. The family had homes in New

(00:47):
York City and Connecticut. As a child, Ruth dreamed she
would be a fashion designer. All that changed when she
was a teenager and a storm blew her fate in
another direction. One fateful time, she was playing tennis on
the rooftop of a hotel in Manhattan. Suddenly dark clouds
rolled in, the skies opened and it began to rain,

(01:08):
So Ruth hurried inside and looked around for something else
to do. In the basement, she discovered table tennis. Ruth
was intrigued. She put down her tennis racket, picked up
a paddle, and her life was forever changed. This was
an origin story she would go on to tell over
and over again. Ruth had a natural talent and immediately

(01:30):
began competing in tournaments. That spring, she competed in her
first national match and got fifth place. She hadn't even
reached her fifteenth birthday. Later that year, Ruth won her
school table tennis tournament, and she enjoyed the feeling. She
doubled down and worked to improve her technique, learning new

(01:50):
grips and playing styles, and she just kept winning. Ruth
was a vision. She was tiny and sprite like, bouncing
around the table, just five feet two inches. She wore
big hair bands that held back her cropped bob, which
bounced with every hit, and she didn't abandon her love
for fashion. She fluttered around the table in crisp white

(02:12):
tennis shoes and wide legged, high waisted trousers with deep
hip pockets in order to hold more balls. Eventually, she
started designing her own clothes for the sport. After just
a year of playing, she leapfrogged into the big leagues.
She won tournaments in the US and became known as
one of the best defensive players. Hovering close to the table,

(02:33):
she could return any shot that came her way. She
claimed she tap danced to maintain her nimble footwork, and
she only practiced against men. Ruth won the US National
Championship for the second time in nineteen thirty five. She
was so good she was tapped to represent the US
at the World Table Tennis Tournament and even bumped a

(02:53):
male player from the team. Now this teenage sweetheart was
off to compete overseas. She sailed across the Atlantic to
play in the nineteen thirty six World Tournament in Czechoslovakia.
It was held in Prague in a massive basement, bomb
proof concert hall. Attendees filled the chaotic space when Ruth's

(03:14):
matches started. The Czechs initially rooted against her quite loudly,
but if an actual explosion happened, Ruth wouldn't have noticed.
Her eyes were fixated on the ball whizzing back and
forth between her and her opponent. Ruth played so well
against her Czech opponent, Marie Ketnarova, that when Ruth won,

(03:35):
the Czechs erupted because it was such a good show.
She eventually won the championship against Astroid Krebsbach, who played
for Nazi Germany. Ruth refused to shake Astra's hand at
the end, stating I am Jewish. At seventeen years old,
Ruth was a world champion. She won singles, doubles, and

(03:56):
team medals, which she found really hard was signing all
of the time tiny table tennis balls for fans. She
was the only American to win gold at the World
Table Tennis Championship that year. When Ruth headed back to
the States, her show business roots kicked in. She performed
at supper clubs as evening entertainment. Her first show was
at the Rainbow Room on the sixty fifth floor of

(04:18):
what was then known as the RCA Building. Apparently, anyone
in the audience who could beat Ruth got a bottle
of champagne. The bottle was never opened. In nineteen thirty seven,
she returned to Europe to play in a number of
international tournaments, which complicated her career. She traveled through Nazi
Germany on her way to play at the World Championships
in Austria. During the final match, the tournament judges enforced

(04:41):
a new time limit rule. The match was stopped short
and neither player got gold. The title was vacated and
they were both disqualified. Ruth's American team was outraged and
had assumed that she would maintain her World Championship title
from the year before. Then an England, things further went awry.

(05:02):
Ruth had set up a tour of commercial performances in nightclubs,
but she found herself tangled up in new compensation policies
in different governing jurisdictions, so Ruth was suspended from playing
for a month and ten days. This was the beginning
of the end, which happened as quickly as Ruth's rise.
She retired from competitions at the age of eighteen, but

(05:23):
continued to play table tennis at theaters and nightclubs. A
few years later, she put down her paddle altogether. She
became an entertainment manager instead, signing big names like David Cassidy.
In nineteen sixty six, the US Table Tennis Hall of
Fame was founded, and Ruth was one of the first inductees.
Ruth died in nineteen eighty at the age of sixty one.

(05:47):
After her death, the head of the Hall of Fame
launched a campaign to revisit Ruth's nineteen thirty seven match disqualification.
As a result, she was posthumously awarded the co Champion title.
Even today, Ruth maintains her record as the only American
World Singles table tennis champion. All month, We're talking about Athletes.

(06:10):
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister
and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.