Who Invented Pickleball?

Quick Answer: Pickleball was invented by three friends, Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum, in the summer of 1965 at Pritchard’s place on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Pritchard instigated the game for his bored kids, Bell helped improvise and shape it from day one, and McCallum built the first paddles and helped codify the rules.

The inventors of pickleball were not sporting goods executives. They were a state legislator, a lawyer, and an envelope manufacturer, three neighbors who improvised a game one summer afternoon and then spent decades building it into a sport. The full sweep of what they started is told in the history of pickleball. This is the story of the men themselves.

Who Are the Three Men Who Invented Pickleball?

Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum invented pickleball together in the summer of 1965, a fact confirmed by USA Pickleball’s official history. Pritchard and Bell played the first improvised game at Pritchard’s Bainbridge Island summer place after Pritchard’s kids complained of boredom, and USA Pickleball records that McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home the following weekend.

From there the roles sorted themselves out. Pritchard was the instigator with the badminton court and the connections. Bell was the co-conspirator who helped shape the earliest rules and later carried the game abroad. McCallum was the maker, cutting paddles in his workshop and anchoring the rules and the business. Each is covered below.

Who Was Joel Pritchard?

Joel Pritchard (1925 to 1997) was a Seattle politician and businessman, recognized by the Pickleball Hall of Fame as the inventor and “Father of Pickleball.” According to HistoryLink, he served in the Army in the Pacific in World War II, spent 25 years with Griffin Envelope Company and rose to president, then built a long political career: the Washington State House from 1959 to 1966, the State Senate from 1967 to 1970, the US House of Representatives from 1973 to 1985, and two terms as Washington’s lieutenant governor from 1989 to 1997.

In pickleball terms, Pritchard supplied the court, the ball-hard-or-go-home philosophy, and the reach. HistoryLink quotes his reasoning for lowering the net: “You’ve got to be able to hit the ball hard. Nobody plays golf to putt.” His family also supplied the name, a story told in full in the guide to why it is called pickleball. Pritchard died of lymphoma on October 9, 1997, at age 72. HistoryLink’s account of the state-sport bill records his daughter saying that out of all the things he did in his life, he was most proud of that game.

Who Was Bill Bell?

Bill Bell (1924 to 2006) was the friend standing next to Pritchard when the first ball was hit. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Bell was a genuine athlete, qualifying for the 1948 Olympic Trials in the high hurdles despite World War II combat injuries, according to his Pickleball Hall of Fame profile. Professionally he was a Seattle lawyer and political advisor who managed Dan Evans’s 1964 gubernatorial campaign, served as managing director of the Seattle World Trade Center, and worked internationally as a vice president for INCO in Southeast Asia and Australia.

On the court, the Hall of Fame credits Bell with helping shape two features that still define the game: the kitchen and the two-bounce concept, both of which survive as the non-volley zone and the two-bounce rule under the 2026 rulebook. The Hall also calls him pickleball’s first ambassador for Pickle-Ball Inc., spreading the game internationally through his business travels. Bell died on June 3, 2006, at age 82.

Who Was Barney McCallum?

Barney McCallum (1926 to 2019) turned a backyard game into a product and a rulebook. Born September 3, 1926, in Davenport, Washington, McCallum owned and operated the McCallum Envelope Company in Seattle, which made him, like Pritchard, an envelope man by trade. After joining the game in its second weekend, he manufactured the first purpose-built plywood paddles in his home workshop, according to his Pickleball Hall of Fame profile.

McCallum was also central to the rules. The Hall of Fame credits him with helping solidify the game’s balance through features like the non-volley zone and the two-bounce rule, both still core under the 2026 rulebook. He co-founded Pickle-Ball Inc. and ran it for decades, producing paddles and the DURA balls that became tournament standards, and marketing the game with the slogan “Say Goodbye to the Sidelines.” USA Pickleball’s remembrance describes the company as the sport’s sole manufacturer and marketer for decades. McCallum, the last living founder, died at his Seattle home on November 18, 2019, at age 93.

What Did Each Founder Contribute?

The clean division of labor is part of why the game survived. In summary:

• Pritchard: the instigator. The property, the badminton court, the drive to make the game hittable, and the political profile that carried it to Olympia and Washington, DC.
• Bell: the co-conspirator. Present at the first rally, a shaper of the kitchen and two-bounce ideas, and the game’s early international ambassador.
• McCallum: the builder. The first real paddles, the settled rules, and the company, Pickle-Ball Inc., that kept equipment flowing for decades.

HistoryLink records that articles of incorporation for Pickle Ball Inc. were filed on February 13, 1968, to “develop the game of Pickle Ball and to sell and promote said game in a lawful manner.” That early move to organize separates pickleball from a thousand forgotten backyard games.

How Have the Founders Been Recognized?

All three founders are in the Pickleball Hall of Fame. Pritchard and McCallum were inducted in the inaugural class of 2017, and Bell followed in 2020, according to their Hall of Fame profiles. On Bainbridge Island, the six-court Founders Courts complex at Battle Point Park is named in their honor, with interpretive displays chronicling the game’s growth, per the Bainbridge Island Parks and Trails Foundation.

Recognition came from the state itself, too. On March 28, 2022, Washington made pickleball its official state sport, citing the 1965 invention by the three men, according to HistoryLink. The full chain of dates from that first summer to the modern boom is laid out in the timeline of when pickleball was invented, and the island where it all happened gets its own guide in where pickleball originated.

FAQ

Who invented pickleball?

Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum invented pickleball in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Pritchard and Bell improvised the first game, and McCallum joined the following weekend, according to USA Pickleball’s official history.

Did one person invent pickleball?

No. Pickleball was a three-person invention with distinct roles: Pritchard instigated the game, Bell helped improvise and shape it from the first afternoon, and McCallum built the paddles and helped settle the rules.

What did Joel Pritchard do for a living?

Pritchard was president of Griffin Envelope Company and a career politician. He served in the Washington legislature, then in the US House of Representatives from 1973 to 1985, then as Washington’s lieutenant governor from 1989 to 1997, according to HistoryLink.

Who made the first pickleball paddles?

Barney McCallum made the first purpose-built pickleball paddles, cutting them from plywood in his home workshop, according to his Pickleball Hall of Fame profile. His company, Pickle-Ball Inc., went on to manufacture paddles and balls for decades.

Who invented the kitchen in pickleball?

The Pickleball Hall of Fame credits both Bill Bell and Barney McCallum with shaping the non-volley zone, the 7-foot area at the net that players still call the kitchen under the 2026 rulebook. Like most early features, it was refined by the group rather than decreed by one person.

Are the pickleball founders in a hall of fame?

Yes. Joel Pritchard and Barney McCallum were inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame’s inaugural 2017 class, and Bill Bell was inducted in 2020.

When did the pickleball founders die?

Joel Pritchard died October 9, 1997, at 72. Bill Bell died June 3, 2006, at 82. Barney McCallum, the last living founder, died November 18, 2019, at 93 at his home in Seattle.

Did the founders name the game after their dog?

No. USA Pickleball’s research found the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, was born in 1968, three years after the game was named. Joan Pritchard, Joel’s wife, named the game after the pickle boat in rowing, though McCallum himself preferred the dog story for the rest of his life.

Did the founders make money from pickleball?

Modestly, by modern standards. Pickle-Ball Inc., incorporated in 1968 per HistoryLink, sold paddles and balls for decades under McCallum’s leadership, but the founders ran it as a small family business, not a sports empire, long before the 2020s boom.

Three neighbors built something durable enough that their names are now on courts and hall of fame plaques. The tradition they started, showing up with paddles and pulling neighbors into a game, continues anywhere a local group gathers, and the pickleball clubs directory is a quick way to find the one nearest you.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.