Ping Pong. George Hendry knew it and even had his photo on Wheaties boxes by the time he was 16. He was a national junior table tennis champion. And he was from north St Louis. It seems that George Hendry didn't take his stature  too seriously, even after the Wheaties people paid him $25 a month for two years. Mr. Hendry recalled in a 1983 Post-Dispatch interview," they also threw in 30 boxes of Wheaties
every month." He continued winning championships until he married, started a family and opened a business. Then he stopped playing for nearly three decades.

He was drafted in June 1942 and fought in World War II as an Army medic in the Philippines, winning two bronze stars. After the war, he graduated from Washington University and opened an accounting business in University City. But he picked up his paddle to play in senior matches in 1976, and once again became a national champion, winning more than 40 national age-group tournaments and was inducted into the Table Tennis Hall of Fame. In senior competition, it was noted that no one was better — not in St. Louis and not in the nation. Hendry won his last championship at 89. He was still playing in matches two days before suffering a stroke three weeks ago.

Mr Hendry died Wednesday at Bethesda Dilworth in Oakland. He was 90. Among his honors, he was inducted into the Table Tennis Hall of Fame.His family will hold a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday at Kriegshauser West, on Olive Boulevard in Olivette. His body will be cremated, with interment later at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Mr. Hendry was divorced. Survivors include Mr Hendry is survived by his son, Scott R. Hendry, his daughter, Sue Fitzgerald, his brother, Jim Hendry, and three grandchildren.