Pickleball, Anyone?

By now you've probably heard of pickleball, which has been described as a combination of tennis, ping-pong and badminton. If you are like the growing number of seniors around the country, you may even have played pickleball, since it is the fastest-growing sport in the country and is especially popular among seniors.

I received a press release this month proclaiming that Seattle is the 10th most pickleball-obsessed city in the U.S. and that Washington ranks #9 as the most pickleball-obsessed state in the country.  

Frankly, I was surprised the rankings weren't higher than that, since pickleball was invented on Bainbridge Island in 1965 and last year it was proclaimed by the governor to be Washington's official sport. 

All this brought to mind an article that we published last fall on our website, all about pickleball and it's Washington state origins. For your pickleball pleasure, you can read that article again below.

Did you catch the CBS Sunday Morning program in August that featured Bainbridge Island, along with Seattle native Luke Burbank and Washington’s claim to fame for inventing pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the country?

On March 28, 2022, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation establishing pickleball as the official state sport of Washington.

It began in the summer of 1965…

“It all started, more or less, out of necessity,” reported Luke Burbank of CBS News.

For a CBS Sunday Morning program featuring the origins of pickleball, Luke Burbank found himself on Bainbridge Island speaking to David McCallum, whose father had a hand in developing the popularity of the sport. The story began on the very same court where the first game of pickleball was ever played.

David McCallum tells Luke about that summer back in 1965 when a couple of neighborhood dads on Bainbridge Island, Bill Bell and Joel Pritchard (US Representative and future Washington Lieutenant Governor), were looking for something, anything to keep their bored kids entertained.

They glanced around the property, spied the badminton court, a whiffle ball and some ping-pong paddles. David reported that they made up the game on the spot and named it pickleball.

“The pickles version of the naming is that Pickles [the dog] would run around here in these bushes and grab the ball, and so they named it after Pickles the dog.” But since Pickles had not even been born in 1965, it turns out she was named for the game, not the other way around. Naming it after Pickles the dog makes for a cute story though.

The inventors started tweaking the game. They lowered the net to 36 inches so they could smash shots tennis-style. “You’ve got to hit the ball hard,” Pritchard said. “Nobody plays golf to putt.” Since a Madrona tree was next to one end of the court, they ruled the server could have one foot inbounds, unlike tennis, and that the serve was to be delivered underhand. Pickleball became something like a cross between tennis and badminton. The inventors said they deliberately crafted the rules so that it would be fun for all ages, with no height advantage for adults.

The popularity of the game started growing. People on the island wanted to play, but they needed paddles. David’s father, Barney, was handy in the workshop. He and his son began making paddles for the sport’s growing fanbase.

Next came Doug Smith, who promoted pickleball. He started by going to teaching conferences to convince P.E. teachers to add the game to their curriculum. “The teachers would be playing all during the conference,” said Doug.

By 1968, Pritchard, McCallum, Bell, and others had incorporated a business, Pickle Ball Inc., each pitching in $500 to develop, promote, and sell their newfangled game. In 1976, Tennis magazine called pickleball “America’s newest racquet sport.” According to HistoryLink.org, the first known pickleball tournament was held in 1976 in Tukwila.

Over time, the game spread across the country and the world. It is currently the fastest growing sport.

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