Pickleball wasn’t dreamed up in a lab or designed by a sports company. It started as a fix for bored kids on a rainy summer afternoon. If you’ve ever wondered who invented pickleball, the answer traces back to three friends, one old badminton court, and a lot of improvising. Here’s the real 1965 Bainbridge Island origin story, minus the myths.
Origins
Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. Pritchard was a Washington State legislator at the time and later served in the U.S. Congress and as the state’s lieutenant governor. Bell was a businessman. McCallum was a neighbor who joined shortly after.
The Bored Kids
The story everyone agrees on goes like this. Pritchard and Bell came back from golf one Saturday and found their families sitting around with nothing to do at the Pritchard summer home. The kids were restless. The adults wanted a solution.
The Badminton Court
The property had an old badminton court, but nobody could find a full set of rackets. So they grabbed what they had on hand and started experimenting.
Invention
The game was pieced together from spare parts. That’s not an exaggeration. The founders mixed equipment from three different sports and kept tweaking until something clicked.
How It Started
They improvised with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball, setting the net at the standard badminton height of 60 inches. The early version played more like slow, lofted badminton. It worked, but barely.
The Net Drop
As the weekend went on, they noticed the ball bounced well on the asphalt, so they lowered the net to 36 inches. That single change transformed the game. Players could now drive the ball with a tennis-style stroke, and the back-and-forth got faster and more competitive.
Founders
The three men had distinct roles, and each one left a mark on how pickleball developed over the following years.
- Joel Pritchard: hosted the first game and gave the sport its political reach in Olympia and beyond.
- Bill Bell: co-created the game that first weekend and helped refine early play.
- Barney McCallum: joined the following weekend and became the tinkerer who improved paddle designs.
Codifying Rules
The three men wrote the rules together, borrowing heavily from badminton. Their goal stayed consistent: build a game the whole family could play together. That family-first design is why pickleball still feels friendly at any skill level.
How Did Pickleball Get Its Name?
Pickleball got its name from Joan Pritchard, Joel’s wife, who compared the mashed-together game to a pickle boat in crew racing, where leftover rowers filled the last boat. The popular story that it was named after the family dog, Pickles, is folklore. Pritchard later clarified the dog came along after the game already existed.
Growth
The game didn’t stay a backyard experiment for long. Word spread around Bainbridge Island, then to Seattle, then to Olympia when Pritchard introduced it to fellow legislators.
First Court
By 1967, the first permanent pickleball court was built in the backyard of Bob O’Brian, a neighbor and friend of Pritchard. That’s widely considered the world’s first purpose-built pickleball court.
Going Commercial
The founders saw the sport had legs. Here’s how they turned a backyard game into a real company:
- In 1968, Pritchard and partners filed articles of incorporation for Pickle Ball Inc.
- The company filed its first annual report in 1972, around the same time they trademarked the name Pickle-ball.
- They manufactured wooden paddles and pickleball kits to meet growing demand.
Legacy
What started as a fix for bored kids is now one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. The core idea the founders cared about, an accessible game anyone could play, still holds. The court dimensions, the lowered net, the simple paddle and plastic ball design, all of it comes straight from that 1965 weekend. When you ask how was pickleball invented, the honest answer is that it was invented by people who just wanted their families to have fun together. That’s still the best reason to play.
FAQs
When exactly was pickleball invented?
Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965, most often pinpointed to July or August of that year. The founders didn’t record an exact date because they didn’t realize at the time they were creating a sport. USA Pickleball and Pickle-Ball Inc. officially cite summer 1965 as the founding period.
Where was the first pickleball game played?
The first game was played on an old badminton court at Joel Pritchard’s summer home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, near Seattle. The property was located at Pleasant Beach on the south end of the island. That original court site is now a recognized part of pickleball history.
Was pickleball really named after a dog?
No, though it’s a fun story. Joan Pritchard said she named it after the pickle boat in crew racing, where leftover rowers make up the last boat. Joel Pritchard later confirmed the family dog Pickles came along after the game was already named, not before.
Who came up with the idea to lower the net?
The three founders figured it out together during that first weekend of play. After noticing the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface, they dropped the net from the standard 60-inch badminton height to 36 inches. That change made the game faster and more competitive for adults.
