Celebrating Centurion Cec Shaw

Table Tennis Australia Ltd. (TTA) would like to wish TTA Life Member Cecil ‘Cec’ Shaw a happy 100th birthday. 

Cec began playing table tennis in the 1940s and 80 years later he is still involved with his local club as a player and an administrator. From his humble beginnings hitting balls around the dining room table, Cec’s passion and talent for the sport brought him to become a Queensland representative throughout the 1950s, where he won multiple National titles, before taking on a long lasting commitment to the development of table tennis. 

Throughout his life Cec has given back to the table tennis community at a state and national level as an administrator, holding a variety of roles both in Queensland and for the Australian Table Tennis Association (now TTA). Cec was awarded TTA Life Membership in 1967 in recognition of his significant contribution to Australian table tennis.

His longevity in the sport is remarkable and many years later, in 2007, he was still going strong when he partnered with Gil Tauris to win the Over 75 Men’s Doubles at the National Veterans Championships.

TTA CEO Scott Houston said that Cec’s lifelong contribution to the table tennis community is outstanding and inspiring. 

“We’d like to celebrate this special moment with him and congratulate Cec for reaching yet another amazing milestone in a long series of achievements,” Houston said. 

“Cec’s work as an administrator at a national level was crucial to lay the foundations for the table tennis community and shape it into what it is today. His dedication and passion for the sport is an example for the entire table tennis community. 

“It is extraordinary to see that at his age he is still involved with the South Tweed Table Tennis Club as a player and an administrator, and a testament to the respect and affection that the local community have for him,” Houston said. 

To help Cec celebrate his 100th birthday, TTA presented him with a National Team shirt with the wording ‘100 Not Out’ on the back.

Cec’s involvement in table tennis continues as he reaches his 100th birthday, proving once again that table tennis is a sport for all ages and abilities. As the saying goes, to live long, play ping pong.

To view Cec’s compilation of Cec’s career record, please click here. Special thanks to TTA Board Member, Marie Pinkewich, for compiling this piece of work.