FROM THE USAPA
USAPA MEMBER PROFILE
Earl
Hill
Assistant USAPA Ambassador Chair
BY RICHARD SMITH
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The Arizona Traditions active adult community is not the birthplace of pickleball; that would be Bainbridge Island near Seattle— all the way back in 1965. It is not where the game began in Arizona, or even in Surprise; neighboring Happy Trails had a small core group of players by the mid-1980s. But the spark for the game’ s explosive growth was lit by a small group of pickleball pioneers in this gated community in the northwest corner of the Northwest Valley.
“ Now I see decals( for pickleball) on their cars and RVs. You know right away. There were two guys making paddles way back when. There’ s over 50 now,” Arizona Traditions resident Ed Hamer said.“ It put Surprise on the map. It’ s the pickleball capital for the nation. It’ s been fun to be a part of that.”
Why Arizona Traditions, instead of any of the thousands of other active adult communities in America? It’ s largely thanks to the efforts of Earl Hill and a small group of residents he attracted to the game.
When Mr. Hill and his wife, Gladys, arrived at Arizona Traditions in the late 1990s, Happy Trails had just added three courts to what was the original court in Arizona.
Mr. Hill learned how to play in his native Pacific Northwest, where the game grew slowly but steadily for three decades. Washington congressman Joel Pritchard and businessman Bill Bell needed to find something for the whole family to do and developed a game they named after Pritchard’ s dog, Pickles— the source of many delays in the early years.
Players use a paddle to hit a baseball-sized whiffle ball with a ping-pong paddle over a net on a badminton-sized court. The sport was a Puget Soundonly phenomenon in 1985 when Mr. Hill first tried it out in a Tacoma gym.
After a decade of play he had become quite adept and made pickleball a consideration when picking a home in the desert. Other than in and around Seattle, the early decades of pickleball were the most robust in the Thousand Trails Campground System at RV parks across the western United States. Special, larger composite paddles were now being introduced.
Mr. Hill played at Happy Trails, but got the word out among his new neighbors. He said games in the then very new Arizona Traditions started among himself and six or eight friends.
“ I just got a hold of a few people way back then and asked them to bring some friends over,” Mr. Hill said.
By 2000, about 30 residents played on four courts— really a tennis court with tape marking the pickleball boundaries. Tennis players would remove the tape, starting a tug of war between the two sports that remains today.
One of the early converts, Norm Davis, became one of pickleball’ s prime evangelists. Mr. Hamer heard about the group from Mr. Davis, who led training sessions for the sport for more than a decade.
“ This guy right here( Hill), he got it moving,” Mr. Hamer said.“ I came over here one day and Agnes( Weber?) showed me how to serve.”
While the Arizona Traditions group grew steadily, all the pioneers credited the 2001 tournament at the Arizona Senior Olympics as the impetus for the local pickleball boom.
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