Former Rock N Roll Publicist Carol Klenfner (Rolling Stones, Elton John, The Who, Jethro Tull, The Eagles and more) is a table tennis champion now rocking the table tennis circuit. She’s got stories up the wazoo about all the 50+ great rock n roll acts she traveled with and repped back when, but her own latest act is a pretty darn good story too.

Carol Klenfner was a gritty NY gal who worked her way up through the Rock N Roll PR world and worked as a top executive for 4 decades at a prestigious firm in NYC. She married, had two daughters, and a solid career. But in 2009, when she was 64, her life started to fall apart. Right after recuperating from back surgery, Carol lost her husband. Then the recession hit and she was shockingly laid off from her job. At her age, she knew finding a comparable position would be difficult if not impossible. She had to move to find a more affordable place to live and admits it was a horrible time of grief and what felt like solitary confinement, while trying to launch her own PR business from her dining room table. She was struggling and knew she had to get out of the house and do something for her sanity.

“Depression is not my thing, but I did feel terribly lonely and isolated. It was like solitary confinement. I wasn’t sure what was ahead for me, but I knew I needed to get out of the house.”

Carol happened to catch a documentary on PBS that profiled seniors in a table tennis tournament, and it sparked old memories of having fun playing ping pong as a kid. She grabbed her childhood friend Stephanie and they went to check out Spin, the ping pong club and restaurant that Susan Sarandon had opened in NYC. They liked it, started playing and got good enough to try out for the women’s league. They were very excited they were accepted. But Carol who got tired of losing, hired a coach along the way and worked her way up into League play and went on to compete in, and rock out, in the national tournaments like National Championship of Table Tennis in Las Vegas (photo example of a tournament set up below) and The National Senior Games. (photo example of tournament ‘in play’ below.)

Del Moon Dir. of Communications & Media for The National Senior Games did a feature story on Carol.

“She wonders if table tennis saved her life in a way, and she feels like a rock star among her age peers who marvel at her renewed passion for life and dedication to pursue a sport.

Carol is a great inspiration for staying in the game! Any game! At any age! She’s passionate others should find their own way to “move a muscle, change a mood.”

Carol’s really bummed she’ll miss the National Championship of Table Tennis in Las Vegas and The National Senior Games in Ft. Lauderdale this year because she hurt her hand, but she’s learning how to play the game with her other hand.

Luckily she wasn’t too bummed to come have some fun talking with me. Carol’s totally back in the game sportswise, and otherwise. She hopes she’s an inspiration for others to risk pursuing whatever sparks them...to stay in the game!

Go Carol!

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by Debbie

May 6, 2022

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Debbie

Debbie Nigro delusionally insists she is Still A Babe and takes her listeners on a wild ride through daily news & relevant content with an attitude that is positively infectious. No One Sees the Glass of Cabernet Half Full Like Debbie!