Ted Inge (1926 - 2014)
President, BTTAD (1993-2014)
remembered as follows….
By Peter Taylor, Chairman, BTTAD and John Jenkins, Vice President, BTTAD, and President, SportsAble, former GB Paralympic Table Tennis Player.
It is with great regret that I inform the members of the BTTAD of the passing of one of the key figures in the development of disability table tennis during the 70’s and 80’s, both in GB and on the world stage. Ted was a driving force of not only GB Para Table tennis but World TT in the early days.
Ted became the team coach of the Paraplegic Squad heading up training and team selection and organising various international trips. His first ‘major’ was the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg followed by the Commonwealth Games in 1974 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Over the ensuing years, he led the GB Team through many European and World Championships and several Paralympic Games until the early 90’s with the Barcelona Paralympics in 1992 being his last. He .became a member of the International Table Tennis Federation Para Table Tennis Division and then the secretary for the Seoul Paralympic Games table tennis event in 1988.
BTTAD was formed in 1993 after Ted had retired from the international scene but his contribution to wheelchair table tennis made him an excellent choice for President of the newly formed Association – a role he has occupied ever since.
He attended some of our early National Championships and the passion which had been so evident in the 70’s and 80’s was still there. Ill health meant that he was unable to continue to attend our events. Ted Inge was a man who achieved much in his lifetime and the contribution he made to the development of Disability Table Tennis was very considerable.
Disability Table Tennis has lost one of its legends in the passing of Ted Inge. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
Peter Taylor
Chairman BTTAD
John Jenkins, Vice President, BTTAD, and President, SportsAble, former GB Paralympic Table Tennis Player.
The following is the main text of the words John spoke at Ted’s funeral
TED INGE
“Ted first got involved in wheelchair table tennis in the late 1960s. He was a coach for his Sittingbourne Table Tennis club and was invited to Medway Table Tennis Club, for disabled players, where he started coaching too. A few wheelchair players, among them Ernie Fisher & Mike Oliver, who had experience of the National Paraplegic Games at Stoke Mandeville persuaded him to attend first a National Games in 1969 and then the training sessions at Stoke Mandeville. He quickly developed a passion for the wheelchair game and joined the small volunteer team of table tennis administrators /referees, notably Iris Moss and Stu Dane, who ran table tennis at Stoke - the Nationals, Internationals and training sessions. Ted became the team coach of the Paraplegic Squad heading up training and team selection and organising various international trips. His first ‘major’ was the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg followed by the Commonwealth Games in 1974 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Over the ensuing years, he led the GB Team through many European and World Championships and several Paralympic Games until the early 90’s with the Barcelona Paralympics in 1992 being his last. Failing eyesight at that time limited his playing and coaching activity as well as his ability to travel.
Ted was greatly respected for not only for his dedication to disability table tennis, particularly wheelchair table tennis, but also for his coaching ability and always for his sense of humour – that infectious chuckle and twinkle in his eye. He was greatly admired by the players for his ability to stoically represent table tennis to the ‘powers that be’ on the selection committees ensuring the sport had its fair share of budget and team places in the GB Paralympic Teams. And it was Ted who consolidated GB’s position and ranking as one of the leading nations in the sport in the world’s disability table tennis arena.
Ted’s standing and reputation was not limited to the UK as he was admired throughout the disability table tennis world becoming a member of the International Table Tennis Federation Para Table Tennis Division and then the secretary for the Seoul Paralympic Games table tennis event in 1988. This respect for Ted was evidenced when at the 1987 European Championships all the 250 players from 18 countries participating in the tournament gave him a rousing ovation, never previously witnessed. In 1993, Ted became first and only President of the foundling BTTAD, which is now the governing body of disability table tennis in Great Britain. And in 2000, Ted was presented the Stoke Mandeville based WheelPower “Service to Wheelchair Sport” award in 2000 in recognition of his contribution to the sport he loved.
Personally, I owe a lot to Ted and I will always be grateful to him. He was a great friend and helped me enormously to develop my game giving me the opportunity to represent Great Britain for over 10 years playing the great sport of table tennis all over the world. Whenever I think of Ted, I smile. Either for the way he used to curse my temperamental fore-hand or for snatching my back-hand or for the occasions we shared laughing and telling stories of times gone by. I know he will be greatly missed by all his many friends in the table tennis fraternity as well as in his many other circles. I know when they think of Ted, they will smile too.”
Continue reading →