Today, table tennis is a popular global sport played by amateurs and professionals alike — a game that can be a casual pastime or an intense, fast-paced exchange. But in the 1940s and 1950s, the game was far more niche, existing in the cultural underbelly — mastered by few but gambled on by many, NPR reported.
Amid New York City’s bustling ping-pong scene, Marty Reisman stood out. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a city junior champion at just 13, and spent his early teens raking in hundreds of dollars per game thanks to his signature flair and hustling prowess, according to The New York Times. That flair earned him more than 20 table tennis titles and cemented his legacy as one of the sport’s most prolific players.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the “broad strokes” of Reisman’s life — as described by Leo Leigh, director of the 2014 documentary Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping-Pong Hustler — inspired Marty Supreme, an A24 sports drama directed by Josh Safdie and starring Timothée Chalamet as a 1950s table tennis legend named Marty Mauser.
While Mauser and Reisman share many similarities, Reisman’s real-life story and achievements diverge from his on-screen counterpart. Read on for more about Reisman’s life, hustling prowess, and ping-pong career.
Reisman’s father was a cab driver, bookmaker, gambler and ‘a compulsive loser’
According to the United States Table Tennis Hall of Fame, Reisman was born in New York City on Feb. 1, 1930. The table tennis champion’s mother, Sarah, was a Russian immigrant, and his father, Morris, was a cab driver, a bookmaker and a gambler. In his autobiography The Money Player, Reisman remembered his father as “a compulsive loser.”
Reisman’s parents divorced in 1940. He lived with his mother until he was 14, then moved in with his father, who encouraged him to pursue table tennis.
He started playing table tennis after a nervous breakdown
Reisman gravitated toward table tennis when he was 9 years old, after experiencing a nervous breakdown and finding solace in the game, the New York Times reported.
Reisman hustled millions of dollars through high-stakes ping-pong games
Following in his father’s footsteps, Reisman became a hustler who traveled the world, scamming his way to $1 million three times over — only to lose it just as quickly. As in Marty Supreme, the table tennis champion frequently hustled players at Lawrence’s Broadway Table Tennis Club, The Daily Beast reported.
“I took on people in the gladiatorial spirit,” Reisman told The New York Times in March 2012. “Never backed down from a bet.”
When Reisman was 15 years old, he found himself in hot water, betting $500 on himself with a man he thought was a bookie during a tournament. The man turned out to be the president of the United States Table Tennis Association, and Reisman was kicked out.
He opened for the Harlem Globetrotters with a comedic table tennis routine
A year later, when Reisman was 16, he toured England with a three-man exhibition team. Three years after that, he and his table tennis partner Doug Cartland got a gig as the opening act for the Harlem Globetrotters. Reisman and Cartland, as shown in Marty Supreme, played “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with frying pans and performed a comedy table tennis routine in which they hit balls and frying pans with the soles of their sneakers.
Reisman won his first world championship before he was 20 years old
According to a 2005 interview with Forbes, Reisman’s ping-pong talents were extraordinary. His forehand swing sent balls flying at a whopping 115 miles per hour.
Reisman won his first world championship when he was 19 years old, and throughout his career, he won 22 international and national championships — including two U.S. Open titles and one British Open win.
He founded a ping-pong organization in 2010
According to The Boston Globe, in 2010 the table tennis star founded Table Tennis Nation, an organization dedicated to sharing information about the sport and making it more accessible. Reisman had previously launched other ping-pong ventures as well, including his Upper West Side club and the Riverside Table Tennis Club, Sports Illustrated reported.
Reisman died at 82 following heart and lung complications
According to The New York Times, Reisman died on Dec. 7, 2012, following heart and lung complications. He was 82. Per the outlet, he was survived by his wife, Yoshiko, his daughter, Debbie Reisman, and several grandchildren.