Lou Pagliaro

Who was Lou Pagliaro?

Louis Pagliaro was an American table tennis player who won the United States national championship on four occasions, include three consecutive years in the 1940s. His small stature — he was just over five-feet tall and weighed under 120 pounds in his prime — and exciting style of play led to such nicknames as "Bullet Lou", "Dynamite Louie" and "Giant Killer", he was said to have "the hardest forehand in table tennis".

Pagliaro was born on May 5, 1919, in Manhattan to Italian immigrants. Growing up on the Lower East Side, Pagliaro learned to play table tennis as an 8-year old after walking into a Boys' Club of New York location in the area. He showed early proficiency in the sport, quickly defeating the older children who had taught him how to play.

As a 14-year old, Pagliaro, representing the Tompkins Boys Club, won the Metro Junior Championship held at the Bloomingdale's Midtown Manhattan location in May 1933, by scores of 21–14 and 21–16. Pagliaro was a member of the United States team that competed starting in January 1938 for the Swaythling Cup, the sport's world championships. By April 1938, Pagliaro was ranked third nationally by the United States Table Tennis Association, behind Sol Schiff and George Hendry.