Growing up in Depression-era downtown Manhattan, Marty Reisman started playing table tennis for money at the age of 12 and walked away with 22 titles during his much-dissected career. His final great victory came in 1997 when he came out of retirement to win the United States National Hardbat Championship. Although undoubtedly brilliant at the game, his extreme arrogance often proved his downfall, being suspended from competition indefinitely after claiming the British Open Championships in 1949 and charging extravagant hotel rooms to his hosts.   

Filmmaker Leo Leigh, son of celebrated British director Mike Leigh, came upon the ageing dandy as a subject for his first feature film and captured the swagger that belied Reisman’s years. “I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat as much food as Marty could,” says the producer of the film, Leo Marks. “We used to go down to East, his favorite Japanese restaurant after we had been shooting all day, and the level of eating was up to professional competitive standard. We also filmed him at a party one night where he took down about 30 oysters and quite a lot of vodka shots in not much time at all.”   

Opening his eponymous Ping Pong parlour in New York, 1958, for the next 20 years Reisman could be found hustling anyone with the balls to play him. Unfortunately, with the realities of his age, Reisman passed away in December 2012.

Rebecca Guinness is Editor-at-Large at NOWNESS. 

Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping Pong Hustler is available now.