History

BEGINNING OF PICKLEBALL AT ARIZONA TRADITIONS

AZT WAS AT THE CENTER OF THE EXPLOSION THAT IMPACTED THE PICKLEBALL WORLD!
By Earl Hill

PROLOGUE

The early history of pickleball at Arizona Traditions (AZT) in Surprise, Arizona should stand on its own as a complete event and it really does. It’s also important to know about two related pickleball events just before the beginning and during the early days at AZT. The first was the start of pickleball in the Arizona Senior Olympics (ASO) tournaments hosted by the Happy Trails Resort (HTR) and AZT communities during 2001-2008. The second was the founding of our national organization, USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) in 2005.

Besides local players, the annual ASO tournaments attracted players from Seattle, Portland, and Florida. The rapid growth of these tournaments served to put Surprise on the pickleball map. To this day, the national organization, now USA Pickleball, is located in the City of Surprise. The involvement in such dramatic occurrences by several local residents and others served to create an explosion of growth to our game of pickleball across the USA and internationally! The actions of four AZT residents later resulted in inductions of these key figures into the Pickleball Hall of Fame (PHOF), a global organization.

The Beginning of Pickleball at Arizona Traditions is gathered from personal experiences and from consultation with others who were also involved. Much of this history was also well documented and described in the History of Pickleball – More than 50 Years of Fun by Jennifer Lucore and her mother, Beverly Youngren (an HTR resident during those years), published in 2018.

HISTORY OF PICKLEBALL AT AZT

My history with pickleball began in 1985 when I learned the game in Tacoma, Washington. I was soon happily addicted to this challenging and compelling game! Baseball was another passion of mine and my wife, Gladys and I attended Spring Training games in Arizona. In November 1997, we built our first home at AZT after I was assured by two of my Tacoma area friends that I could play pickleball with them at Happy Trails. Our neighboring community had four courts including three newly constructed courts at their Town Center.

Gladys soon started playing golf in the ASO. When I learned that pickleball was not an ASO sport, Glady said, “Get busy and make it happen.” I presented this idea to the HTR Pickleball Club and they willingly agreed to host pickleball events when I volunteered to serve as Tournament Director. The City of Phoenix was the prime sponsor of the ASO which consisted of 18 sports with Irene Stilwell as Director. We applied for the Arizona Senior Olympics in early 2000 and invited Irene to observe our game. She was excited but members of the ASO Board were dubious. After several weeks of deliberation with the ASO Board, Irene told us we were approved as a trial sport in 2001. As part of this conditional approval, we had to guarantee at least 15 players would participate.

I had returned to Washington State and sent emails to the HTR players about our success with the ASO and within 30 days, we had commitments from 45 players. The first tournament was held in February 2001 with 100 players registered! By the third year, we had more than 200 players.

In late 2000, I visualized pickleball as a possible activity at AZT. I formally asked for permission from our Fitness Director to organize play on one of our under-utilized tennis courts. I was encouraged when I learned our Fitness Director had played pickleball at Northern Arizona University. By getting the word out, we had a great response to pickleball at AZT. Newly retired residents wanted physical activity and enjoyed experiencing an easy-to-learn sport. They also greatly appreciated opportunities to socialize with other pickleball players at AZT.

Lines were marked on the tennis court and before long, we needed four courts. Two courts were constructed on each side of the tennis net. We used painter’s tape for the lines but when we learned the glue residue was baking onto the court surface, we started using chalk instead. The one positive development of using chalk was that discussion of the ball ‘in or out’ no longer became necessary. When the ball hit the chalk line, you could see a puff of chalk. The nets were anchored into buckets of sand which were often knocked over. I trained players, provided paddles and balls to start with and directed players on how to buy pickleball equipment from internet suppliers.

Three residents made notable contributions in the early days and during construction.

My neighbor, AGNES WEBBER was the first person I taught to play pickleball and she willingly taught others after Gladys and I returned north for the summer. Another pickleball student was BRUCE BUCKNELL. Bruce was an engineer with a background in parks and could see the need for permanent courts. He met with our developer and talked about permanent courts and suggested a site next to the Neighborhood Center (NC). Play on the tennis court continued daily. In March 2002, we had all four courts busy with others waiting when the two top Continental Homes officials, John Lockett and his Sales Manager, came by to see why so many people were having so much fun. With plans for building homes on 1,200 additional lots, Lockett was encouraged by the drawing power of pickleball. When Lockett expressed interest in building courts, I assured him I would bring the ASO Pickleball event to AZT if he would build enough courts. We then referred him to a Mesa contractor experienced in court construction. The third person was ED HAMER, incredibly valuable to the construction process. Not even a week later, Lockett called for a meeting at the site next to the Neighborhood Center. Our pickleball group included Hamer, Norm Davis, Dave Cormany, and me. Lockett showed us the architect's drawings for six fenced courts. Hamer was a pipefitter and welder in his construction career. He convinced Lockett to use a newer post-tension concrete process for the base. This process was designed to strengthen the concrete pour, reducing the possibility of cracking. To this day, almost 25 years later, there are no cracks on our courts.

Our group determined we must have lighted courts. At the time, there were very few homes near the site for our courts. We knew this could be an issue later on as we had seen a denial occur at Happy Trails post construction when concerned neighbors successfully protested the addition of court lights.

The bid for the courts came in from the Mesa contractor at $65,000. Knowing the cost for court construction, Lockett said he couldn’t pledge the additional funds for lighting. A separate bid from his contractor for this extra work was $12,000. Although he couldn’t agree to install lights, Lockett had his contractor install the necessary conduit for future lighting.

To Hamer’s credit, he never gave up on the lights and a week later, Ed called to say he had located used tennis court light poles and lamps at a surplus yard in Phoenix. Ed had stated from his calculations that illumination from four 20’ poles correctly placed would adequately light four of the courts. The tennis court poles were 16’ but Ed said we could purchase a fifth pole and he would then weld a 4’ section to each of the poles with his portable welder. The owner of the surplus yard quoted $700 including delivery. We paid him on the spot! When we told Lockett, he agreed to provide equipment to install the poles. Within a few weeks, Ed had the poles and lamps assembled and was ready for a painting party. Ed also fabricated paddle and ball holders for each court, made horizontal bars with hooks to hang equipment bags, and ran a water line from the ballfield to the courts to service our drinking fountain and swamp coolers. Ed certainly was key to the project and deserves a lot of credit for the success of our finished project.

As a group, we saw a need for community wide recognition and knew the formation of a club was the way to accomplish our goal. We’d also need court rules and court maintenance. Properly drawn bylaws would provide for a succession of leaders for the Pickleball Club. After the Club was formed, I was elected the charter president, while Jessie Tuttle became vice president, and because he lived full-time at AZT, Jessie provided direction for much of our first two years as a club. A year later, the club was able to repay the $700 to Ed and me.

The construction process was completed and first play on the new courts occurred in January 2004. This was the fourth year of the pickleball event in the ASO. The tournament here started the following month and continued at AZT for an additional four years.

The growth of the tournament received attention from many notable Seattle area players to attend including Mark Friedenberg, Pat Kane, Barney & Fran Myer, Phil Mortenson, Lela Reed, and Erne Perry. During the first tournament at AZT in 2004, the need for creating a national organization brought players together for a meeting in our Neighborhood Center. The consensus was quickly established to go forward as the rules needed revision and many wanted to see a true national tournament. This agreement was termed the Arizona Accord. The tournaments continued attracting more entries and it became clear our six AZT courts were inadequate to accommodate the event. As a result, we also used courts at the former Sun City Grand (name changed to The Grand) for the last two years of the local events. In 2009, the tournament had to be moved to a larger facility at Sun City Festival.

The five tournaments were a huge undertaking for our club and required critical planning and many volunteer hours. I was in charge of all on-court activities including seeding, referees, scheduling format, scoring, and posting results while Norm Davis agreed to serve as Assistant Tournament Director and assumed responsibility for all off-court happenings. These activities included canteen operations, traffic signs, souvenirs, and anything else needed. Each of our committees had written expectations and volunteers assigned. We were very fortunate to have Norm in this role because he was diligent and made sure things happened. Lockett assisted fundraising by writing letters to his contractors asking for donations. Norm’s responsibilities included collection of operating fund proceeds. Bob Lanius of HTR was named as a second ATD in 2007/08. Bob had retired from Microsoft and was assigned to work with me on all court play. He took us from the paper world into the computer world. With our ever increasing player base, Bob’s experience and skills made our tournament operations considerably easier. Before long, our score sheets were even equipped with bar codes. Bob became the ASO Director in 2009.

The idea of creating a national organization was still on the minds of several Seattle area players. Friedenberg owned the copyright to the USAPA name, and when he agreed to donate the name to a new non-profit organization, the decision was a major impetus for the group to take the next step. The dreams of many became a reality when the IRS officially recognized our new all-volunteer organization on July 1, 2005. Several AZT residents were charter board members and accepted key director roles.

Mark Friedenberg was a top national player and had written and produced The Pickleball Handbook, a bible for our sport describing methods and techniques of successful play. As our USAPA Charter President, Mark successfully drove and oversaw all aspects of our Board activities, not the least of which were our website and Rules Committees. The website gave us instant exposure while our existing rules needed to be properly rewritten for clarification purposes. USAPA started with 45 members and grew to a membership of 104,828 in 2026[1]. These are mostly players who wanted to play in a USAP tournament. Nationally, there are 24.3 million players in the USA. At one time, Pickleball was mostly a senior sport but as the average age dropped to 35, the largest age group is now 25-34[2]. Mark also had the vision to create the beginnings of the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) in 2010. The first action was the adoption of USAPA rules. Today, the IFP has 60 member countries with national associations [3]. Mark has had a huge impact on the growth of pickleball. He is a ten-year resident, having purchased the very last AZT home in 2016 directly from Continental Homes.

Fran Myer developed the first pickleball website in 1999 selling paddles and balls from all known manufacturers at the time. Her site also featured the rules, court construction tips, upcoming tournaments and a list of Places to Play (PTP). In 2026, there were 18,258 locations with a total of 82,613 courts (see footnote 2). For many years, Fran and her husband, Barney were organizers of senior pickleball events in Seattle and Washington State. Fran also assisted Barney (the USAPA Tournament Director) in directing the first USAPA National Tournament in 2009 and was co-director in 2010-2011. She was a charter member of the USAPA Board for eight years, serving from 2005 until 2013 as Secretary, Media Director, and as Vice President. Fran and Barney had a home in AZT.

Norm Davis learned pickleball as one of the first players on the AZT tennis court in 2000. (Norm played prominent roles in the construction of our courts and during the ASO tournament years at AZT.) Norm was active in the formation of our USAPA national organization, serving as a Charter Board member for ten years and as a Training Director. Norm made more than 60 training videos that demonstrated basic pickleball techniques and also created a template for teaching pickleball in schools. He initiated the USAPA Grant Program which provided equipment to more than 200,000 new players nationwide. He also consolidated Places to Play (PTP) data from several sources to create a comprehensive, interactive list. By 2015, the list has grown to over 50,000 pickleball courts. Locally, Norm organized a volunteer group to teach students in four high schools in Surprise, AZ. That group started in 2003 and continued through 2018. In 2007, Norm was one of the key individuals helping to raise $25,000 to get public pickleball courts established in the City of Surprise near the baseball stadium. These public courts now host many annual pickleball tournaments that draw players from around the country. Norm certainly made many significant and lasting contributions to the growth of pickleball at AZT in the City of Surprise and nationally.

Earl Hill. My personal involvement continued during the formation of our new national organization. An idea for advancing the growth of pickleball originated from my association with players during my HTR-playing days. Several players had told me they wanted to share their love of the game with others in their hometowns. These players had begun organizing play for their friends and family. I reflected on these occurrences in 2005 when I was asked if I would take a position on the new USAPA Board. When I saw an open board position for National & International Relations, I thought why not have ambassadors who could share their love of the game in their own communities and beyond. At our initial board meeting, I presented my idea and described why I had selected that position. Someone else stated it would be good to have a representative in each state. I said that would eventually happen but in the meantime, we could have many players sharing their love of the game with others. We soon found players were eager to be USAPA members and when they joined, they were asked to describe how they wanted to be involved. If they indicated an interest in being an ambassador, I would call them and ask for details on how they’d promote pickleball in their city, town, or county. The responses almost always resulted in my naming them officially, then placing their names on the website as an ambassador and ordering business cards to show they were an official USAPA representative. As each ambassador was successful, I asked them to place their location on the Places To Play segment of our website. Myer originated the PTP idea. Fran was a great barometer for our board to observe how our game was growing. I stepped back from the ambassador role in 2018. We had about 1,800 ambassadors in all 50 states, each reporting to one of nine Regional Ambassadors. The Ambassadors numbered 1,864 in 2026. They worked as volunteers to advance our great game in various ways (see footnote 1). The Board and others later often attributed the rapid growth of pickleball to the amazing success of the Ambassador and PTP programs.

The four mentioned AZT residents including Norm and Earl have been recognized for their contributions and were inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame. Gigi LeMaster, also an AZT resident, became a renowned national player, and is in the PHOF. Gigi also served as Co-Director of the 2012 national tournament.

AZT Members in the Pickleball Hall of Fame:

Mark Friedenberg - Class of 2017, Inducted in the initial year as both a Player & Contributor
Fran Myer - Class of 2018, Inducted as a Contributor
Earl Hill - Class of 2018, Inducted as a Contributor
Gigi LeMaster - Class of 2021, Inducted as a Player
Norm Davis - Class of 2022, Inducted as a Contributor

Original and early players on the AZT tennis court included: Agnes Webber, Jim & Charlotte D’Andrea, Norm Davis, Ed Hamer, Diane & Armand Smith, Bruce Bucknell, Bill McCulloch, Joe Colasanto, Jessie Tuttle, Floyd Richmond, Steve Nagle, Mickey Burnett, Harry Evans, Tom Glomski, Dave & Linda Cormany, and Ron & Sue Gardiner. Recreational play at AZT continues daily to this day with a thriving club membership of 200+.

The creation of this document was a fun experience. I am proud to share this history with AZT pickleball players and other residents. A big thank you to everyone who was a part of the story and shared their memories of these many events!

[1] USA Pickleball, https://usapickleball.org/

[2] Sports & Fitness Industry Association, https://sfia.org

[3] International Federation of Pickleball, https://ifpickleball.org/