The game started during the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, at the home of Joel Pritchard, who later served in Congress and as lieutenant governor.[6] He and two of his friends, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, returned from golf and found their families bored one Saturday afternoon.[7] They attempted to set up badminton, but no one could find the shuttlecock. They improvised with a wiffle ball, lowered the badminton net, and fabricated paddles of plywood from a nearby shed.[8][9][10]

McCallum made the first paddles that were specifically for pickleball on his basement bandsaw. He tried several alternative paddles, but one he called “M2” became the paddle of choice for most players.[5] In 1972, McCallum incorporated Pickle-Ball, Inc. and manufactured wooden paddles to help grow the sport. His son David McCallum now runs the business, which is headquartered in Kent, Washington.[11]

Some sources claim that the name "Pickleball" was derived from that of the Pritchard's family dog, Pickles, or from the term "pickle boat".[8][10] According to Joan Pritchard, Joel Pritchard's wife, “The name of the game became Pickle Ball after I said it reminded me of the Pickle Boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats. Somehow the idea the name came from our dog Pickles was attached to the naming of the game, but Pickles wasn’t on the scene for two more years. The dog was named for the game, but stories about the name’s origin were funnier thinking the game was named for the dog."[12]

Pickleball grew from the early 1970s kits circulated by Pickle-Ball, Inc. in the Pacific Northwest into warmer areas as "snowbirds" from the area migrated south to Arizona, California, Hawaii and Florida. Early sponsorship also came from "Thousand Trails" a Seattle company which installed courts along the West Coast. The U.S Pickleball National Championships are held near Palm Springs, California co-hosted by Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle and owner of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where they have been played since 2018.[13] They had been previously played in Arizona, from 2009 to 2017. The tournament has the oversight of the U.S.A Pickleball Association, itself reincorporated with an updated rule book in 2005 after its foundation in 1984.[14] [15] The U.S Open Pickleball Championships are played in another hub of Pickleball, Naples, Florida, and started in 2016.[16] Estimates for active players have grown to 3.3 million in 2019 up 10% from 2016. [17]

Source: Wikipedia