How Pickleball Really Got Its Name !
By Wayne Dollard
PUBLISHER OF PICKLEBALL MAGAZINE
In the summer of 1965 , pickleball was founded by
Joel Pritchard , Bill Bell and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island , Washington . Within days , Joan Pritchard had come up with the name “ pickle ball ”— a reference to the thrown-together leftover nonstarters in the “ pickle boat ” of crew races . Many years later , as the sport grew , a controversy ensued when a few neighbors said they were there when Joan named the game after the family dog , Pickles . Joan and the Pritchard family have held fast for decades that the dog came along a few years later and was named after the game . It ’ s an undisputed fact that pickleball began , and was also named , in the summer of 1965 by Joan Pritchard . If Pickles was around then , the dog story could be true . If Pickles wasn ’ t born until after 1965 , the dog story would be confirmed as just a funny newspaper interview hoax — later confessed by Joel Pritchard . Proof of when Pickles was born could help resolve the two-story name debate . As the official magazine of
Barney McCallum pickleball , we decided to dig up the past and report the truth , regardless of the venerable feathers being ruffled . We looked for dog records , uncovered photos , and interviewed several people who were there from 1965-1970 . Based on evidence , we learned that the dog was born in 1968 — three years after pickleball was first played and named . In other words , the Pritchard family story stands true that pickleball was not named after the dog , but rather in reference to the local pickle boat races .
Bill Bell and Joan Pritchard
Summer of 1965
Joel and Joan ( pronounced “ Jo-Ann ”) Pritchard lived in Seattle and spent their summers at their home on Bainbridge Island , WA . In the summer of 1965 , the Pritchards invited Bill and Tina Bell to stay with them at their Bainbridge compound . One day after golfing , Joel