Joe Gerend Award

The Joe Gerend Award is named after Joe Gerend. Joe played in the tournament from 1978 to 1995. He retired from competitive play in 1995 at the age of 91.

Joe and his wife Herta were fixtures in the basement. Joe kept detailed notes of the brackets and that gave us the past winners lists we now have. Joe played in a number of memorable matches including AA matches against Jim and Sam Hofer, Todd LaValley and played against Tony Hofer in both Class C and AA. He played with both his left and right hand in different classes.

Joe had been a teacher at UW-Marinette for many years and ended up playing matches against a number of his former students while in the basement.

The award is given each year on Friday night a player who best exemplifies Joe’s love of Ping pong and the Tournament.