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Gary Dunn is like the Johnny Appleseed of pingpong tables, planting them in parks for others to use. Now he's donated two outdoor tables at Independence Park and hopes to add them throughout the area.
Dunn, who owns an import-export business based in Matthews and mainland China and a manufacturing facility in China, also lived in China for a number of years. He says he enjoyed going to parks there, where outdoor pingpong tables are common, and playing. He even began installing more tables around the country so more people could play, he says.
When he returned to Charlotte three years ago, he headed out to play pingpong, only to discover there were no outdoor tables. He says he found the Charlotte Table Tennis Club, which meets in the old Hawthorne Recreation Center at Independence Park, but he wasn't able to play whenever he wanted to. He thought, “How about if I start building pingpong tables and putting them in the park?”
He talked with Greg Jackson, head of park operations and athletic services for Mecklenburg Park and Recreation, and went through the necessary channels to place something in a park – approvals, paperwork, insurance – which took about a year.
Jackson admits he was skeptical at first, but Dunn is persuasive. So they decided to try one park. “Our original thought was to give them some usage,” Jackson says, “see if people used them.”
Jackson liked Independence Park for the trial run because the table tennis club met there already, so there was built-in interest. Dunn liked the park because he grew up and went to school within walking distance of it.
Dunn has the tables made in China of stainless steel and a blue laminate that stands up to the weather. Some of his tables have been in use in China since about 1994, he says. The net, which is made of a steel mesh, remains on the table.
The tables are anchored into a reinforced concrete pad near the basketball court, playground and a picnic shelter at the park at Seventh Street and Hawthorne. Players must provide their own equipment. Dunn says he would like to place new paddles and balls on consignment in nearby stores or restaurants and put a note near the tables that supplies can be purchased there.
The tables were installed in January, and Dunn and Jackson have seen evidence of use, such as discarded paddle wrappers and ball sleeves. The tables still look new.
Dunn says he has selfish and altruistic reasons for installing the tables. “I can come out and play with my kids, play with my friends, anytime,” he says. “And everybody else gets to play.”
Jackson and Dunn are considering several other parks for tables now. Dunn likes to put pairs in and would even like to put in several in one place, perhaps a configuration of eight. He says more tables attract more attention and interest.
Jackson says space and location are considerations. He says that placing them near picnic shelters in parks that attract large groups for outings would be ideal. People could pack their paddles and pingpong balls into their picnic gear and enjoy an afternoon in the park.
Jackson and Dunn also envision growth of a pingpong league where there is a large configuration of tables.
Dunn is awaiting word on where to put the next tables. Each installation costs about $5,000 per table, including labor and the concrete work. Friends and companies have expressed an interest in sponsoring tables, he says.
He's worked out a plan that enables a person or business to have a name or logo embedded in the concrete pad. The pad in Independence Park bears the name of his company, Liang Dynasty Group USA.
Meanwhile, he and his children are getting use out of the two tables at Independence Park. “One of the things I really like to do is watch my kids play pingpong and have fun,” he says.
