Unlike other sports, which tend to have muddled origins and evolve slowly over time, pickleball was born over the course of several summer days in 1965. Historians also know the precise birthplace of pickleball: the Puget Sound island of Bainbridge.
The “father of pickleball,” Washington State congressman Joel Pritchard joined his neighbor, businessman Bill Bell, in developing a game to entertain their bored children over summer break. Together, the men improvised a game that could make use of an old badminton court without the need for badminton equipment, which they lacked.
Playing with table tennis paddles and a perforated plastic ball, they began experimenting with a new type of racket sport. By the next weekend, they had joined with another neighbor, Barney McCallum, to solidify the basic rules and standards of pickleball. Joel Pritchard’s wife Joan gave the sport its name, borrowing it from the rowing term “pickle boat” (the last boat to finish a race, typically carrying a hodgepodge of rowers from various teams).
