Elizabeth B. Briggs

By Robert A. Brown

We are sorry to report the passing of Buffy Briggs in Vero Beach, Florida on October 30, 2008, after a long bout with cancer. She was 82.

Buffy teamed with Charlotte Lee to win the Women’s Nationals in 1963 and 1964, and in 1968 she was runner-up with Do Deland. Shortly thereafter, her playing career was curtailed by a fall from a ski lift, seriously injuring her shoulder.

Although her competitive activity was ended, Buffy was a major contributor to the administration of women’s activities , serving as Women’s Tournament Director for the APTA over a period of ten years during the 1970’s. She also served on the APTA Board. She was responsible for creating the point system, still used today, for ranking players and for use in doing seedings in women’s draws. She also created reprieves for women’s events, to provide further information for ranking and seeding. She traveled extensively to all of the women’s ranking and national events, and many commented that she was a star at solving problems, making decisions, and resolving women’s issues.

In a quote from her own writing, she commented that her ten year involvement in administering women’s activities “was frustrating, exhilarating, demanding, time consuming, but overall rewarding for the many experiences I had and the marvelous people I was involved with. I loved my job”.

Buffy Briggs was inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.

She will be sorely missed.

Nancy Mangan sent us these notes about her friend Buffy.

Buffy was a wonderful women's chairman for many years. She attended about 95% of all ranking tournaments, did the seedings and kept a huge leader board, which she kept in her car to drag out so the players could see how many points each team had. Points and rankings changed every week. The money tournaments added a lot to her committee. The sponsors wanted certain things, i.e. clothes, etc. Sometimes this created a sticky situation.

Working with Buffy was a wonderful experience. She had a great sense of fun but still had time to listen to players' complaints. She encouraged everyone to enjoy the wonderful game of platform tennis. She gave back to our game many, many times.

(Editorial note: If we are able to obtain the additional page for this article we will add it.)