In the summer of 1965, something extraordinary was born in the quiet corners of Bainbridge Island, Washington—not in a lab or a stadium, but in the backyard of a summer home owned by Joel Pritchard. At the time, Pritchard was a businessman who would later become a U.S. Congressman and lieutenant governor of Washington. One lazy Saturday, after returning from a round of golf, Pritchard and two friends found their families restless and bored. So, they did what any resourceful parents might do: they challenged the kids to create a new game.
The family gathered on the backyard badminton court and began experimenting with what they had—table tennis paddles, a wiffle ball, and whatever else was lying around. That improvised play session sparked the earliest version of what would become pickleball. Over the rest of that summer, the families worked together to refine the rules and structure of the game.
A popular myth says the game was named after the Pritchards’ dog, Pickles. While it’s true that the family later had a dog by that name, the game actually came first. Joel Pritchard’s wife, Joan, coined the term pickleball because the sport reminded her of a “pickle boat” in rowing—a crew made up of leftover oarsmen from other boats. Fittingly, pickleball was pieced together from leftover gear and ideas from other sports.
Just two years later, in 1967, the first dedicated pickleball court was built at the home of Pritchard’s friend Bob O’Brian. The sport spread quickly among neighbors and relatives. From the Pacific Northwest, snowbirds carried the game to sunnier states like California, Arizona, Florida, and Hawaii. By 1990, it had reached all 50 U.S. states.
From 2021 to 2024, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America. The 2024 report estimated 19.8 million participants nationwide, marking a 311% increase in just three years. That same year, CNBC reported a 650% rise in the number of outdoor pickleball courts in the U.S.’s 100 most populated cities. There are now over 3,000 courts in those urban areas alone. Learn more in the audio below!