Pickleball History: Who Invented It, When and Where
Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum. A company called Pickle Ball Inc. was filed in February 1968, and the national body's first rulebook came in 1984. This pickleball history ties each date to a source and marks what is only a family story.
Most retellings run as one smooth line. The sources don't agree on everything, so where they differ this page says so. To see what the sport is today, start with what is pickleball, how to play pickleball or the rules page.
Who invented pickleball?
Three friends: Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum. The years are from HistoryLink, the Washington State history encyclopedia.
| Inventor | Years | What the sources say |
|---|---|---|
| Joel Pritchard | 1925 to 1997 | The host. A Washington state legislator in 1965, later a six-term U.S. Representative and a two-term lieutenant governor. |
| Bill Bell | 1924 to 2006 | Pritchard's friend and house guest that summer. A World War II veteran who worked for the International Nickel Company. |
| Barney McCallum | 1926 to 2019 | A neighbor who made sturdier paddles. HistoryLink credits him with the kitchen, the 7-foot no-volley zone. |
Some pages call Pritchard a congressman in 1965. That's early. HistoryLink and Washington State Magazine both put him in the state legislature that summer, and he reached Congress later.
Where and how did pickleball start?
At the Pritchard family's summer place on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle. USA Pickleball's account is that Pritchard and Bell came home from golf one afternoon and found Pritchard's son Frank, 13, bored. Frank told them to make up a game.
The property had a badminton court, 44 by 20 feet, paved with asphalt. That's the size of a pickleball court today (Rule 3.A.1 of the 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook). They played with table-tennis paddles and a perforated plastic ball. USA Pickleball's history timeline says the net started at badminton height, 60 inches, then dropped to 36 inches because the ball bounced well on asphalt. Today's net is 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 in the center (Rules 3.B.6 and 3.B.7).
The same timeline says McCallum joined the next weekend, and the three men wrote the rules, leaning on badminton. They wanted a game the whole family could play together.
The retellings differ on the gear, even though everyone calls it one afternoon.
- USA Pickleball (2020): the ball came from a plastic bat-and-ball set Frank got for his birthday.
- Joan Pritchard, Joel's wife, in a 2008 newspaper column: a neighbor boy, Dick Greene, lent a whiffle ball, and the paddles were cut from plywood.
- HistoryLink: paddleball paddles and a borrowed whiffle-type ball.
The date itself isn't certain either. HistoryLink reports that Pritchard once said 1963 and that Joan wrote summer 1966. Most accounts from Pritchard and McCallum say July or August 1965, which is the date USA Pickleball and Pickle-Ball Inc. use. This page uses 1965.
Pickleball timeline
Filled markers are dated records. Open markers are accounts from the people involved, the governing body's own history, or sources that disagree.
| Date | What happened | Source, and how solid it is |
|---|---|---|
| Summer 1965 | Invented on Bainbridge Island | USA Pickleball, HistoryLink. Told by the people there. No document from that day. |
| 1967 | First permanent court | HistoryLink, USA Pickleball history. Sources disagree on where: a neighbor's court on Bainbridge Island, or the Pritchards' Seattle home. |
| 13 Feb 1968 | Articles of incorporation filed for Pickle Ball Inc. | HistoryLink. Dated state record, as HistoryLink cites it. |
| 3 Aug 1972 | The company files its first annual report | HistoryLink. Dated state record, as HistoryLink cites it. |
| Spring 1976 | First known tournament, at the South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. Tennis magazine runs a story that year. | USA Pickleball history, HistoryLink. Governing body's account. |
| March 1984 | The United States Amateur Pickleball Association is organized and publishes the first rulebook. Sid Williams is its first president. | USA Pickleball history, Washington State Magazine. Governing body's account. |
| 1990 | Pickleball is played in all 50 states | USA Pickleball history, HistoryLink. Reported by both. |
| 2 to 8 Nov 2009 | First USA Pickleball national tournament for all ages, in Buckeye, Arizona, with almost 400 players | USA Pickleball history. Governing body's account. |
| 28 Mar 2022 | Washington's governor signs a law making pickleball the state sport. The Senate voted 46 to 1 and the House 83 to 15. | Washington State Legislature, SB 5615. Dated public record. |
The timeline stops at 2022, but the player count kept climbing. SFIA estimates that 24.3 million Americans aged 6 and up played pickleball in 2025, up from about 4.2 million in 2020 (SFIA). That counts anyone who played in the year. How many people play pickleball sets it beside the APP survey's 48.3 million adults (2023) and explains why the two numbers differ. For where the sport stands today, see is pickleball an Olympic sport.
What is the same, and what changed
The court is the same size. A lot else was tuned later.
| 1960s version | 2026 rulebook |
|---|---|
| A 44 by 20 foot badminton court | Same: 20 by 44 feet (Rule 3.A.1) |
| Net at 36 inches | 36 inches at the sidelines, 34 in the center (Rules 3.B.6, 3.B.7) |
| Server keeps one foot inbounds, because a tree crowded the court (HistoryLink) | Neither of the server's feet may touch the court (Rule 7.A.2) |
| Underhand serve | Still low and upward: ball no higher than the waist (Rule 7.C), or a drop serve (Rule 7.D) |
| Games to 21, later 21 for doubles and 15 for singles (Joan Pritchard's column) | Typically to 11, win by 2 (tournaments may use 15 or 21, Rule 15.C) |
| Hand-cut plywood paddles | Rigid, non-compressible material, 17 inches long at most, 24 inches for length plus width, no weight limit (Rules 3.D.2 to 3.D.4) |
| The kitchen, credited to McCallum | 7 feet deep on each side of the net (Rule 3.A.4.c) |
Documented, told or disputed
| Claim | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Pritchard, Bell and McCallum made the game | Every source agrees. |
| It happened in summer 1965 | Most accounts and USA Pickleball say so. Pritchard once said 1963 and Joan wrote 1966. |
| Pickle Ball Inc. dates from 1968 | The articles were filed in 1968. USA Pickleball says the corporation was formed in 1972. |
| The first permanent court was a neighbor's | HistoryLink says a Bainbridge neighbor built it. USA Pickleball's older page says a friend and neighbor, and its newer page says the Pritchards' own home in Seattle. |
| Kids were bored and Frank dared his dad | Frank Pritchard's own recollection in USA Pickleball's 2020 article. A family account. |
| Pritchard was a congressman in 1965 | Loose wording. He was in the state legislature then. |
| McCallum made the kitchen | HistoryLink credits him. The word "kitchen" has no documented origin, as our kitchen article explains. |
| The name | Credited to Joan Pritchard. The stories differ, so the name has its own page. |
One company, two dates: 1968 or 1972?
Pickle Ball Inc. shows up with two founding years, and both are right.
HistoryLink, citing the state records, says the articles of incorporation were filed on 13 February 1968. The company filed its first annual report on 3 August 1972, and HistoryLink adds that Pritchard and others gave 1972 as the year the business actually got going. USA Pickleball's own history says the corporation was formed in 1972.
So 1968 is the date of the paperwork and 1972 is when the selling started. HistoryLink says each founder put in $500 and the company sold boxed sets of paddles, balls and a net for $29.95. Whenever a page gives you a date, ask what it is the date of.
A quick test for any pickleball history claim
Three questions:
- Who said it? A person who was there, a governing body, or a page repeating another page?
- When did they say it? A 2008 column recalling 1965 is not a 1965 record.
- Is there a dated record? A filing, a bill, a newspaper issue.
A claim that passes all three, like the 28 March 2022 state law, is solid. One that passes none is a story. Stories can be true, but say who told them.
The court you play on today is still 20 by 44 feet. You can play it in your browser in a free singles or doubles game against the computer, or read the full rules first.