Why is it called pickleball? The REAL story behind Australia’s fastest growing sport

It’s a classic tale of boredom yielding brilliance. On a gloomy summer afternoon in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, just 9 miles (aka 14 km) off the coast of Seattle, three dad besties and their kids unknowingly invented the sport that would eventually come to take over the world… pickleball.

There are a few theories floating around as to where pickleball got its name. Some say it’s named after Pickles, the family dog who would chase the balls.

Others say it was inspired by the “pickle boat” in crew racing.

Or maybe it was because the ball looked like a pickle… okay, who came up with that one?

Which one is true?? Keep reading and let’s decide together 🤭

Okay so picture this — state Congressman Joel Pritchard and his buddy Bill Bell have just finished a round of golf. They arrive back at Pritchard’s place on Bainbridge Island to find their families lounging around, seemingly unenthused by life.

The old badminton court in the backyard catches their eye, but there’s just one problem… they can’t find all of the equipment to play.

“It was a typical bad weather day on this beach. Rainy and wet. The kids were driving the adults crazy so Joel said ‘take this paddle and ball and go up to the badminton court and hit it around,'” recounts one of their friends, Barney McCallum in an interview with Pickleball Channel.

Our curious and innovative dads got creative. They grabbed some wooden ping pong paddles, found a whiffle ball (a perforated plastic ball), lowered the net to 36 inches, and started experimenting with different rules.

The next weekend, their friend Barney joined in on the experiment at Pritchard’s home. A handyman and craftsman, he began carving the first proper pickleball paddles from his garage workshop… a far cry from the carbon fibre weapons we see on court today.

Barney actually traced his hand onto a piece of plywood to determine the perfect paddle size. He made about 1,000 paddles in his workshop using a bandsaw and hand plane before any commercial production even began.

“I realised after the first weekend, ping pong paddles weren’t going to cut it. For one thing, you’d break them. So, I had a bandsaw in the basement of my house. I got a piece of paper and I drew three different models. I drew them down on plywood and started cutting. The next weekend, that’s what we used. There was no buildup on the handles, but it worked… very well. The shapes [now] have changed slightly, but it’s basically that first paddle I made,” says Barney.

And in case you were curious, the original court dimensions (20′ x 44′) were actually kept from the existing badminton court — they just worked perfectly! This has been a crucial element for helping the sport grow around Australia and Asia where badminton is quite popular, and access to dedicated pickleball courts is limited.

Eventually, the game made its way over to Barney’s house in Seattle (after Bainbridge visitors cleared out for the winter) for people craving exercise in the colder months.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The families spent that summer fine-tuning the rules, many of which were designed to make the game playable for everyone:

• The unique underhand serve, so kids could play easily
• The no-volley zone (aka, the “kitchen”) added to prevent tall adults from dominating at the net
• The double-bounce rule to extend rallies and make the game more strategic

“Frankly, the early kids got pushed out. They did,” continues Barney. “And I’m playing this thing that we’re playing [before it was called Pickleball]… this is on a Saturday. Then the next day, I couldn’t get out of bed fast enough to go play. And they said ‘Gee, Barney, we found some fun things to do.’ And it was arguing about how pickleball was going to be played. So, I joined the argument.”

David McCallum, Barney’s son, shares a bit more about how the rules were developed. “These were charismatic men. They were always up to something… just making up rules as they went.“

The story continues like this…

Barney: “The scoring, that was a big argument. We tried them all… from ping pong, to badminton, to tennis. If you could think of another one, we tried it.”

David: “The rules just got developed on an as-needed basis. Dick Brown is a large man, about 6’4 and aggressive. He would run up to the net and spike the ball. So there was the short serve line on this badminton court at 6’6 and they just made up the rule saying ‘Dick, you’ve got to stand behind that line to hit it in the air.’ So that was the start of the non-volley zone.”

David: “The net height was established at 36 inches… because that was the height of Joel Prichard’s waist. The net kind of sagged and people would mess around with it, so before they’d start playing, Joel would check the height of the net to his hip.”

The friends were eventually flooded with requests for paddles and balls which led to the creation of Pickle-ball Inc., — the start of the commercialisation of the game.

“I bought every badminton net that I could locate in America. I bought all the Cosom balls there were. Now the next thing was the paddles… there was no fancy handle, it was just a shape out of a piece of plywood. And that’s what we shipped,” recalls Barney.

A set included four paddles, four balls, and a net for a grand total of $29.50. That was in 1977.

What started as a little summer sport invention has quite literally exploded into the fastest sport in the world, but the early days were all about grassroots growth. Barney himself says that the game was not created for any purpose other than for their own pleasure… pure and simple.

Here’s a little look into the timeline of pickleball:

• 1967: First permanent pickleball court constructed in the backyard of Joel Pritchard’s neighbour (and friend), Bob O’Brian
• 1972: First corporation formed to protect the sport (Pickle-ball Inc.)
• 1975: The sport receives its first national media coverage in The National Observer and Tennis Magazine — “America’s newest racquet sport”
• 1976: The first known official tournament is held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington
• 1984: The US Amateur Pickleball Association (USAPA, now USA Pickleball) is organised to promote the sport in the US. The first rulebook was also published, and the first composite paddle made by a Boeing Industrial Engineer

These days, you can find pickleball just about anywhere in the US and it’s rapidly growing across the world with courts popping up in all sorts of new places! Everyone cross your fingers for an Olympic appearance sooooon.

So back to our naming mystery! Ready for the truth?

Joan Pritchard (Joel’s wife) finally settled the debate years later. The name actually came from the “pickle boat” in crew racing — the boat filled with leftover oarsmen from other boats. Why? Because pickleball was cobbled together from pieces of other sports, just like a pickle boat crew!

So what about Pickles the dog? Turns out Pickles didn’t come along until a few years after the game was invented. So, the dog was actually named after the sport… not the other way around!!

In an article about the history of pickleball, it was reported that some major digging was done to confirm whether or not Pickles the dog was born before or after 1965. According to them, and ‘based on evidence,’ turns out Pickles was born in 1968… three years after pickleball.

The truth was confirmed by Joel and Joan’s son, Frank. “To hear my mother tell it, they sort of threw the leftover non-starter oarsmen into these particular pickle boats. She thought pickleball sort of threw bits of other games into the mix (badminton, table tennis) and decided that ‘Pickle Ball’ was an appropriate name.”

Although the idea of a sport named after a dog is probably a bit more memorable and easier to recount, Frank continues to set the record straight.

“Barney and my dad agreed that this was the tale they would tell—and they told it for years. You can imagine how upset my mother was about that decision! Later in life, as the game grew, my father would admit in other interviews that the game was not named for the dog, but Barney to his dying day held that the naming was due to Pickles the dog. I feel strongly about giving my mom credit for naming the game—it’s her little piece of pickleball’s history, and something she’s never been given enough credit for.”

So there you have it… that’s how pickleball came to be.

What’s your favourite part of the story?!

For anyone who’s fallen down the pickleball rabbit hole like I have, here are some fantastic resources to dive deeper:

1. “History of Pickleball: More Than 50 Years of Fun!” – Official USA Pickleball history page
2. “The Other Story of Pickleball” – Documentary featuring interviews with the founding families
3. Bainbridge Island Historical Museum – They have an entire exhibit dedicated to pickleball’s origins!
4. “Pickleball and the Art of Living: The Power of a Simple Game to Change Lives” by Jennifer Lucore and Beverly Youngren – A novel that goes deep into the sport’s history

xo,

Tati