SPTTC’s Jeff Mazur strikes Gold at the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games
Congratulations to our own Jeff Mazur for taking the Gold Medal in the 50-59 year old men’s division of Table Tennis at the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games. The table tennis portion of the games was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
Those of us unfortunate enough to play Jeff at the club know his heavy, consistent chopping game can be extremely difficult to deal with.
We watched Jeff chop his way through his competitors. I believe he only dropped one game in the entire tournament, that being the second game of his semifinal match when his opponent jumped out to a 6-1 lead and eventually took the game 11-9.
After that, Jeff swept the final two games of his semifinal match and then defeated his Gold Medal opponent from Iowa 3-0 in the final match.
And although we can’t officially claim him as our own, a gentlemen named Gerald Colter took Gold in the 40-49 year old men’s division. Gerald plays out of California, but stops in at our club a few times a year when he’s in town for business.
Again, congratulations to Jeff, all of his Transplant Game mates from Team Pittsburgh, Gerald, and all of the other athletes in these games helping to raise awareness of the success of organ and bone marrow transpants and the huge need for more organ donors around the world.
I’m not sure how often they update results, but anyone who has friends or family in the games can view the results here.
I wanted to take some shots during the Gold Medal Match, but ended up keeping score instead. The best I could do was capture Jeff on the stand in the center with his medal. The silver medalist is on the right and we have half of the bronze medalist on the left. Obviously, I have no future in photography. 
July 21st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Chris,
I just wanted to thank you, Chip and Dennis for volunteering at the 2008 US Transplant games at the Convention Center last weekend I know you were on your feet for many hours and it must have been a long day for you.
I want to also thank you for writing the nice article about my gold medal win in the Table Tennis event (Men age 50-59) at those 2008 Transplant Games. I am sure you have seen a surge of people hitting on your website as a result of this article. I must have passed your website on to at least 40 people. Your website is really cool. Maybe you can get Gary Egri to consider “joining forces” and contributing pieces related to table tennis in general or the SPTTC for it. Your website is clearly the more successful as it has a much better name.
Winning the Gold Medal was a real thrill for me particularly since it was my first Transplant Games and I really didn’t know what to expect. As you know from talking to my wife - Sue, I received my kidney transplant from my sister Jana 6-1/2 years ago. You may be interested to know that I sent my gold medal to Jana for if it had not been for her “gift of life”, I would not have been able to participate in those 2008 Transplant Games…or any games for that matter.
You might want to make contact with the head of the Team Pittsburgh and get the names of the Team Pittsburgh members who entered the Table Tennis events as they could all be potential members of the SPTTC. Many of them never heard about the SPTTC.
Have a successful summer season at the club. I will re-join the club after the hot summer…..unless you tell me the Home Economics Building has been air-conditioned. If that were to happen, I would pitch horseshoes at only one of the two horseshoe leagues at which I currently play.
Sincerely,
Jeff Mazur
(2008 Transplant Games Gold Medal Winner)
July 21st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
It was great to be a small part of such a worthwhile event Jeff.
And yeah, I was hurting for the next couple days from standing for so long. It was like taking an 8 hour walk.
Strange that I can play for just as long and not be sore, just tired.
You told me between your semifinal and final match that you would send your gold medal(if you won it) to your sister, but I didn’t want to get too personal here without your consent.
Thanks for spreading the word about this site and our sport in general. Some day soon, I’m hoping those of us in the North Hills have a club close by to attend.
I may drop a line to Team Pittsburgh, but you’ve probably covered at least a few of those.
Congrats again on a well deserved medal.
We’ll see you in the fall. LOL, no AC in the Home Ec building.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Chris,
Thanks for your nice reply.
I did mail my gold medal to my sister Jana (my kidney donor 6-1/2 years ago)who now lives in Boston I certainly felt that she was the one who deserved it for if it had not been for her “gift of life”, I certainly would not have been able to participate in the 2008 Transplant Games (or any games for that matter). Jana actually sent the gold medal back to me as she felt that I should have it. She certainly is an amazing special person.
See you in the fall at the SPTTC.
Jeff Mazur
August 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
We’re certainly happy to have you around Jeff.
As they say, your sister is “good people”.
I’m looking forward to testing my game against yours again this fall.
Nobody else in the club pushes and chops as consistently or heavily as you do, at least nobody under 1800 USATT.
As frustrating as it is to play against your style, it’s a necessary evil to help us improve.
The variety of styles in our club is great experience for those of us that play in tournaments.
See you soon.