Pickleball \’pi-kel-bol\ noun
Inception on Bainbridge Island, Washington (1965):
• On a sunny summer day, Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington State, and his friend Bill Bell returned home to find their families with idle hands. The solution? Improvise a game!
• Armed with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball (since they couldn’t find a complete badminton set), they set up a makeshift net on an old badminton court.
• Initially, they played with the net at badminton height (60 inches), volleying the ball over.
But soon, they discovered that the asphalt surface allowed for satisfying bounces, so they lowered the net to 36 inches.
• The following weekend, Barney McCallum joined the game, and together, they established rules inspired by badminton. Their goal was to create a family-friendly activity.
• The birth of pickleball had begun!
First Permanent Court (1967):
Recognition and Growth:
• 1972: A corporation was formed to safeguard this new sport.
• 1975: The National Observer published an article about pickleball, followed by a feature in Tennis magazine, dubbing it “America’s newest racquet sport.”
• 1976: The world witnessed the first-known pickleball tournament at the South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. Participants, including college tennis players, wielded large wooden paddles and a softball-sized plastic ball.
•1982: Sid Williams, a pickleball pioneer, organized tournaments in Washington state.
• 1984: The United States Amateur Pickleball Association (U.S.A.P.A.) was established, complete with its first rulebook. The association’s first president, Sid Williams, played a pivotal role.
•1990: Pickleball spread to all 50 states.
• 1992: Pickle-Ball, Inc. began manufacturing pickleballs in-house.
• 1997: Joel Pritchard, one of the game’s creators, passed away, leaving behind a legacy intertwined with pickleball’s birth.