Like her husband Del, Connie (Stace) Sweeris came from an avid table tennis family in Grand Rapids and by age 23 was the No. 1-ranked female table tennis player in the U.S.
She would go on to win singles and mixed-doubles national titles with Del, and together they share 25 national titles between them.
Connie and Del, who is also in the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame, were part of a diplomatic mission known in history as Ping-Pong Diplomacy in 1971. They were part of a U.S. team that hosted Chinese players during a two-week tour across the nation. One of the stops was at Cobo Hall in Detroit and 10,000 people attended. The tour is credited with improving chilly China-U.S. relations at the time and setting the stage for a China visit by President Richard Nixon in 1972. Nixon’s historic visit reestablished diplomatic relations with China.
The Connie and Del combination teamed up to win four U.S. Open doubles championships and finished second twice in a seven-year span in the 1960s and 70s.
In 2013 and 2014 Connie and Del worked with the West Michigan Sports Commission to host the U.S. Open Table Tennis Championships.
Their son Todd, who is also in the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame, is a two-time table tennis Olympian. Connie, Del and Todd are also in the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame.