Jones Brings His Passion to the Table

Table tennis might never reach a critical mass of popularity in this country, but Jimmy Jones is certainly sold.

In fact Jones and his wife, Joanne, sold their Sherman Oaks home and moved to Leisure World so he could satisfy his desire to play the sport.

He even went under the knife to improve his table tennis game. After living for 12 years with double vision caused by a detached retina, Jones had the problem repaired surgically in December. The bouncing ball is no longer plural.

Jones now plays one to four hours a day, “every day I can,” and is taking weekly lessons from Wei Wang, who played for United States in the 1996 Olympics.

Today, Jones is making his debut in national competition--the Meiklejohn National Seniors Table Tennis Tournament, which continues through Sunday a few blocks from the Jones’ home.

It’s there, in Clubhouse 5 at Leisure World, that Jimmy and Joanne Jones spend a good deal of their time. She plays some and watches more. He keeps pinging away.

“He can play four or five hours of table tennis and not be tired,” Joanne Jones said. “I play half an hour and I’m sort of exhausted. He’s really quite amazing.”

That Jones, 82, is far from favored in the 80-and-older division of the $12,000 Meiklejohn event is beside the point. Jones, a fit 5 feet 7 1/2, 152 pounds, likes the competition but loves to play. He figures it’s a great way to spend the latter years of an active life.

Jones’ sporting life began in earnest at 11 when his father bought him a membership at the newly built Glendale YMCA. “That’s where I learned sports, gymnastics, swimming and pingpong. It was called pingpong then.”

Like one of the little white balls, Jones’ career path bounced around a bit. He owned a radio repair shop. He worked as a sound and lighting technician in Hollywood. He was chief recording engineer for the Armed Forces Radio Service, producing broadcasts of such stars as Angela Lansbury and Frances Langford. Eventually he became an electronic quality control inspector for the U.S. Department of Defense.

He was a professional photographer, focusing on glamour shots of models. After retiring in 1976, he ran a recording studio and continued his photography business.

Through it all he somehow found time to stay active. Jones won a bronze medal in table tennis in the YMCA’s California Olympics in 1951. But he traded his paddle for a tennis racket and played three days a week for nearly 30 years on courts near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Jones’ first wife died in 1992 and upon meeting and marrying Joanne in 1994, he decided to leave the courts. “I didn’t want to make her a tennis widow,” Jones said, “so I moved back to table tennis so we both could do it.”

Jones says the sport helps keep him fit. He had heart bypass surgery in 1974 and 1982 and suffers from high blood pressure. “The adrenaline flow of competition keeps my blood pressure down, so I don’t have to take any medication.”

It’s a low-stress pursuit for Jones because--unlike some competitors--he doesn’t have much of a temper. “I play for the exercise, the health and the fun of it,” he said. “To win more often you have to be a barracuda, but I’m not.”

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Table Tennis Tournament

Here’s a look at the Meiklejohn National Seniors Table Tennis Tournament, an annual competition for men and women 40 and older.

* Where: Leisure World, Laguna Hills (Clubhouse 5, enter Gate 9)

* When: Today-Sunday

* Time: Starts 8:30 a.m. today, 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday

* Cost: Admission is free

* Prizes: $12,000 divided among several divisions

* Information: (714) 855-0198