Every sport has its origin story that seems too unbelievable to be true. If James Naismith created basketball out of discarded peach baskets, there’s no limit to what you can do. The origins of pickleball and its complete history started with some whiny kids and outside-the-box resourcefulness from their three dads.
Three Men and Their Babies
Before there were endless streaming services and screens to entertain our children, parents had to get creative to find something appealing to do for the kids. It’s not uncommon for parents to invent random games out of thin air, hoping they get a few hours of peace. But people rarely create a game that’s becoming one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Amazingly, that’s what happened when Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum invented pickleball.
On a beautiful summer day on Bainbridge Island, Washington, in 1965, the children of the three men were complaining about not having anything to do. As parents are prone to do, they are more than happy to find an activity that can occupy their time, even if it’s a painstaking chore. Luckily for their kids, the trio didn’t force them to mow the lawn or trim the bushes. Instead, they gathered some random items, including ping pong paddles, a whiffle ball, and a badminton net.
We can assume the fathers handed the items over and told them to “figure it out,” which they did swimmingly. After realizing the kids hadn’t returned, the dads went to them and saw they were having a blast hitting the wiffleball with the ping pong paddles. While hitting a wiffleball with table tennis paddles isn’t a sport, their children might have been onto something.
The families kept experimenting with their newly found hobby and discovered that the ball bounced well enough off the asphalt to work with it. They decided to lower the net from the regulation badminton height to accommodate their new game.
With the net and ball set, it was time to focus on the paddles. Although the table tennis paddles worked, they weren’t the ideal option. McCallum used handy skills to cut a larger paddle from plywood, which became the unofficial paddle for the game henceforth. Pickleball became the craze on Bainbridge Island as neighbors jumped in on the action, leading to the game’s expansion into Seattle and beyond.
The Motivation Behind “Pickleball”
When someone unfamiliar with the game hears about a sport called “pickleball,” confusion ensues. Is there an actual pickle? Is the ball made of pickles? In actuality, the game has nothing to do with pickles. Two stories are floating around where the game gets its name, with one being more credible than the other.
The first and least likely account is McCallum claiming it’s named after Pritchard’s dog, which is aptly named “Pickles.” This cute origin story would make sense only if Pickles didn’t become a part of the Pritchard family until a few years after they created the game.
The likely story is from Pritchard’s wife, Joan, who claimed she named the sport because of pickle boats. These boats consisted of oarsmen who were leftovers from other crews, which was an ode to the game originating from leftover items.
Setting the Foundation
The sport needed to grow off the island if it had a chance to garner more acclaim. Thus, the wheels were in motion to create a court, accredit the sport, and host a tournament. It started with a permanent court that Pritchard’s neighbor friend created in 1967. The court’s dimensions are akin to the size of a doubles badminton court at 44 feet long and 20 feet wide, with the net resting at 34 inches in the middle.
In 1972, they incorporated pickleball to protect the sport. And by 1976, Tennis magazine put pickleball in the national spotlight, publishing an article about America’s hottest racquet sport. In 1976, the new sport had become hot enough to have its first tournament in Tukwila, Washington. The sport was so new and foreign to some competitors that players would need mammoth wood paddles and a softball-sized wiffleball.
Two years later, pickleball rules and regulations made the book The Other Racquet Sports, giving full details of the Pacific Northwest court game. By 1982, tournaments started popping up all over Washington, and the sport never looked back to its humble origins.
The Growth of the Game
Since the sport was gaining traction in the early 1980s, it made sense to create pickleball’s first official rulebook. The United States Amateur Pickleball Association published an official rulebook to grow the game further.
Another advancement that helped the game increase in popularity was improving its equipment. Like golf and its wooden clubs, wooden paddles went by way of the dodo bird with more innovative paddles. A Boeing engineer, Arlen Paranto, was the first to use composite materials to make a paddle. Paranto utilized Nomex and fiberglass used for airplanes to make the new paddles more durable and robust.
By the start of the new decade, all 50 states were a part of the pickleball family. At the end of the 90s, pickleball had its first website launched. These developments helped get 100 players to play pickleball in the Arizona Senior Olympics, the most significant tournament of that time. Within a few years, the website “Pickleball Stuff” alerted curious competitors where they could play. With over 150 courts between 10 states and three provinces in Canada, prospective pickleball players had several opportunities to find a game.
The USAPA
The USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) came about in 2005, becoming the sport’s official governing body. It had its official rulebook in 2008, leading to its inclusion in the National Senior Games Association. In 2009, the inaugural USAPA National Tournament began, attracting nearly 400 players from all over the United States and Canada.
What the Future Holds?
There have been no signs of pickleball slowing down anytime soon. Not only is the sport played by 4.8 million people in the US, but some of the country’s biggest figures are noticing it. Stephen Colbert held a jammed-packed celebrity tournament that included Will Ferrell and Emma Watson on CBS for Comic Relief US, a non-profit organization.
Although they may not be participating in the game, NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love have invested in a pickleball team. And if Durant, Love and Green don’t have enough star power to tickle your fancy, how about LeBron James? With the involvement of these NBA champions, Major League Pickleball will expand from 12 to 24 teams in 2023.
From bored children to the eventual all-time leading scorer in the NBA, this complete history of the origins of pickleball educates you on its beginnings and what it has in store for the future. You can be a major part of that future by shopping at the premier
pickleball retailer, Fromuth Pickleball. Fromuth has everything you need, from paddles to apparel, to hit the court confidently!