Pritchards ’ dog , Pickles and Bill returned home to find Joel ’ s disgruntled 13-yearold son , Frank , in one of those moods .
Frank , now 68 , recalls , “ I was bitching to my dad that there was nothing to do on Bainbridge . He said that when they were kids , they ’ d make games up .” Frank bitterly responded to his dad , “ Oh , really ? Then why don ’ t you go make up a game ?”
Well , Joel ( age 40 at the time ) loved a challenge , so he and Bill took off to the backyard badminton court where the 44 x 20-ft . regulation court had been asphalted earlier by Joel ’ s parents . The steady Seattle rain necessitated the paving of their court .
Joel and Bill went to the back shed and grabbed a wiffle ball from a plastic bat and ball set that Frank had been given for his birthday earlier that year . They located a pair of table tennis paddles , set up the badminton net , grabbed the ball and played that first game . Broken paddles became a problem , so the men fashioned some pretty scary-looking paddles in Joel ’ s father ’ s garage workshop . It was at this time that the game started to take form . Frank recalls his dad saying , “ You know who we need ? We need Barney .”
Barney McCallum lived six doors down on the beach and was very handy . He was able to construct more reliable , better-looking paddles . He quickly became an integral part of the game ’ s equipment , rules and formation .
One day , during the summer of 1965 , the Bells and Pritchards were sitting around and made the decision to come up with a name for the game . Joan stepped up and said , “ Pickle Ball .” She then explained the reference to leftover rowers who would race for fun in local “ pickle boat ” crew race competitions .
The Pritchards have always claimed that only their houseguests ( the Bells ) were in attendance when the name was decided upon .
College Crew “ Pickle Boats ” Inspired the Game ’ s Name
Joan grew up in Marietta , Ohio , and attended Marietta College . At that time , the school had one of the strongest crew programs in the country . Locals would all gather together to watch the races . Although Joan was never a racer , she was a loyal fan of the Marietta crew teams .
Joan and Joel met at Marietta and moved to Seattle ( Joel ’ s hometown ) in 1948 . As luck would have it , the University of Washington also had a top-tier rowing program . In the ‘ 50s , the University of Washington hosted annual regatta competitions . As an enthusiastic alumna , Joan would go out to cheer on her visiting Marietta team .
The regattas pit the best varsity teams against each other . Afterward , like many college sports , the nonstarters would participate in a separate competition . Since at least 1938 , the leftover “ spares ” from multiple universities competed in a just-for-fun “ pickle boat ” race .
Frank recalled , “ 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 , wiffle ball ) and decided that ‘ Pickle Ball ’ was an appropriate name .”
He added , “ I first heard my mother utter the words pickle ball when we were actually on the court . It was in that first summer of 1965 and the name stuck . I never heard the game called anything but Pickle Ball ( later changed to pickleball ).”
Pickles and the Summer of 1968
Three years later , in the summer of 1968 , the Pritchards invited their friends Dick and Joan Brown , and their children , to stay on the property at the Bainbridge guest house .
Paul Brown , now 62 , treasures his memories of that summer . He explains , “ I remember the summer of 1968 well . The Pritchards invited us to stay at their compound , and even had a big birthday bash on the beach to celebrate my dad ’ s 40th birthday ( he was born in 1928 ).” Paul laughs , “ Fib Peterson brought the tall three-foot yard glasses , and the adults were all drinking beer .”
The Net Height For years , the official height of a pickleball net was where it touched Joel ’ s waist . Eventually , the net was officially set to 34 inches in the center and 36 inches on the sides .
Joan Pritchard
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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2021 | MAGAZINE 39