The old badminton court is overgrown with weeds, tucked away in the woods on a remote island west of Seattle, but this place is historical, having changed the lives of millions for five decades.
"People flocked in here," said Pickle-Ball co-founder Barney McCallum, who passed away in 2019.
He and his buddy, the late Congressman Joel Pritchard, were hangin' out with their families in the summer of 1965...as they did just about every summer.
On a rainy day, Joel wanted the kids to go play outside.
"There was ping pong paddles. And a baseball sized whiffle ball. And he said go up and hit some balls on that court and get outta the house," McCallum recalled.
They did. And they didn't come back for hours.
The grownups went out to see what was going on. And pickle-ball was happening!
"Kids. They just love to play," said McCallum.
The adults couldn't get enough either. They played all summer.
"It took us uh all that summer, arguing every weekend of what rules we liked."
Fast forward five decades, there are tournaments all over the world. McCallum's company, Pickle-Ball Inc., sells rackets to every corner of the globe. There's even a retirement community called The Villages in Florida with 146 courts and counting!
Residents wait in lines every morning to play.
"We never envisioned that y'know?"
McCallum said they were just looking for a backyard summer past time. But they're thrilled the familiar "ploink" of pickle-ball paddle meeting ball is heard just about everywhere.
"And one of the things we put on the side of the box was say goodbye to the sidelines. And we really meant that."
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