Why is it called pickleball?

As the story goes, pickleball was invented on a badminton court following a round of golf on a summer Saturday in Washington state. Joel Pritchard, a state representative at the time Official site and later a congressman, and his neighbors Bill Bell and Barney McCallum were looking for badminton equipment to occupy their families’ time.

Unable to find any, the group opted for ping-pong paddles and a Wiffle ball. In an interview with ESPN, Pritchard’s son Frank said he was sour about living a boring life in Washington, which ended up being the true motivation behind inventing the game. The next challenge for the group was figuring out what to name their new discovery.

There are two versions of how the sport’s name was created, but only one that has stood the test of time. The popular — but rejected — version is that the game was named after the Pritchard’s family dog, Pickles.

As for the true origin of the sport’s name, it is said that Pritchard’s wife, Joan, named it after the pickle boats in crew, also known as rowing. That boat would often be the least competitive boat in the race, with a crew that was thrown together at random. It makes for a fitting name since the game was born out of using leftover equipment from other sports.