Tom Kearns stepped away for about 40 years, but the attraction was too great: In 2024, he returned to a passion that began when he was 4 years old.

Kearns first played table hockey with his dad and brother back in 1970, and then when he turned 10, he began to play with friends Dan and John Henderson, and other friends and neighbors in the Sunset Hills area of Mt. Lebanon.

He recalls, “The board I grew up playing on with my dad and brother broke, and my brother, who was older, then went to college. About a year after he went, Dan and John’s dad brought a game home for them, and they put together a league and invited me to play with other kids in the neighborhood.”

The league remained intact until the kids’ lives moved in other directions. “We took about a 40-year hiatus from playing, as kids went to college, raised families, had careers, etc.,” Kearns said. However, following that decades-long interval, Kearns has returned to his love of table hockey. He even went to Detroit in 2024 to play in an international championship with dozens of participants. Now he wants to start a local league, with the first season scheduled for Tuesdays at The Saloon, 622 Washington Road, beginning at 7 p.m., running from January 13 through February 27. There is no charge, the league is open to men and women, and Mt. Lebanon residency is not required. Kearns said the league can accommodate up to 48 players.

Kearns, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon, attended college at the University of Delaware and stayed in that area when he got a job there. He has sold cardiac equipment for the past 30 years, the last 18 with GE Healthcare, the company that moved him back to Pittsburgh in 2008. After raising their three children on Lynn Haven Drive, he and his wife, Michelle, moved to Bower Hill Road two years ago. He learned about the championships from a coworker.

“One of the guys I work with mentioned that he had attended a yearly international championship held in Detroit. I decided to see how good I was in 2024 by playing against the best, and Dan Henderson practiced with me for about a month to get me ready.” Practice paid off as Kearns won seven games at the Coleco tournament and finished in 12th place, and also won seven games in the STIGA tournament to finish in 26th place.

Coleco and STIGA are two types of table games. Both use rods and both use six players, which for the most part are in the same positions, but the STIGA players are 3D vs. 2D, and are positioned differently on the board where they can steal the puck from the other team more easily. He added that there are a few subtleties about each game that members will learn about in the first week of play.

The idea for the Mt. Lebanon league came when he attended the international championships. “When I was in Detroit,” Kearns said, “I was fortunate to meet three players from the Pittsburgh/West Virginia area who have turned into tremendous friends – Mike Hubbard, Dean Moore, and Eric DiBacco. All three happen to be among the three best STIGA table hockey players in the United States and taught me how to play at a highly competitive level.” In fact, Kearns had never played on a STIGA board before he went to the 2024 championships, but gives all the credit for his wins to Hubbard, who taught him how to play in one hour before the tournament started. The foursome now get together about twice a month to play, and Kearns’ three friends will also mentor the league.

“The game is a lot of fun, it’s something you play as a kid, but most people don’t touch it again. But if you want to get back into it and play again and just have fun, it’s a very friendly atmosphere, just a night out to have fun. It’s a chance for people to hang out.” He said he is extremely grateful to Keith Sheppard and The Saloon of Mt. Lebanon to allow them to play the games there.

For more information or to sign up, call or text Tom Kearns at 412-298-4152.