Leah Neuberger
Encyclopedia
Leah Thall-Neuberger nicknamed Miss Ping, was an American
table tennis
player.
Leah Thall-Neuberger was ranked the # 3 table tennis player in the world in 1951.
Championship in 1956 with teenager Erwin Klein.
Leah captured 29 National titles between 1949 and 1974 — 9 Singles, 12 Doubles, and 8 Mixed Doubles.
She also won 41 Canadian championships, including 11 Singles titles.
In 1971, she accompanied the Canadian table tennis team on its historic Ping-Pong Diplomacy Tour to the People’s Republic of China. The only American in the Canadian entourage, and the first U.S. citizen in decades to visit China and speak face to face with Chinese premier Chou En-lai, her chat sparked a series of events that helped thaw the relationship between the United States and China.
Neuberger, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
in 1999.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
player.
Leah Thall-Neuberger was ranked the # 3 table tennis player in the world in 1951.
Table tennis career
The United States’ greatest women’s table tennis player, of whom the New York Times once wrote: “Her paddle is her passport,” Thall-Neuberger won the World Mixed DoublesChampionship in 1956 with teenager Erwin Klein.
Leah captured 29 National titles between 1949 and 1974 — 9 Singles, 12 Doubles, and 8 Mixed Doubles.
She also won 41 Canadian championships, including 11 Singles titles.
In 1971, she accompanied the Canadian table tennis team on its historic Ping-Pong Diplomacy Tour to the People’s Republic of China. The only American in the Canadian entourage, and the first U.S. citizen in decades to visit China and speak face to face with Chinese premier Chou En-lai, her chat sparked a series of events that helped thaw the relationship between the United States and China.
Halls of Fame
In 1980, she was elected a charter member of the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame.Neuberger, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was opened July 7, 1981, in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around the world....
in 1999.