Pardoe, William E.

Pardoe, an Ogden UT native and graduate of Brigham Young High, was a fine tennis player and was ranked on Long Island where he lived at the time of his marriage before moving to Westchester and being introduced to platform tennis. It did not take him long to become good enough to begin his reign as a player of championship caliber, in both form and in the record books and he was always been in contention regardless of what tournament he was playing in.

Bill won the Men’s Nationals in 1956 and again in 1960 and was runner-up in 1958. He won the Mixed Nationals in 1965 and was runner-up in 1959 and 1966. In the Senior Men’s he was a finalist in almost half the years the tournament had been held prior to the time of his induction. He was runner-up in 1961 and 1962 in the Senior Men’s 45+ and won the Senior Men’s 50+ three straight times in 1966, 1967 and 1968 with George Lowman.

His play was quick, steady and consistently strong. He brought the American twist service to platform tennis and put it to extremely good use and one of the all time best serves in the game. It was rare that an opponent could attack his serve and make a winner of the return. He had a deceptive change of pace with all of his shots, and opponents could never let down when playing against him. He was friendly, modest and, like his partner George Harrison a sportsman on the court.