1976 The First EVER Pickleball Tournament in the World

Before the millions of players…
Before the pro tours…
Before pickleball became what it is today…

There was 1976.

In this episode, we sit down to uncover the story of Johannes F. Lisiecki — the man behind the South Center Athletic Club, where the first organized pickleball tournament in the world was played.

The Bicentennial Tournament.

A moment that quietly changed everything.

Held in Tukwila, Washington, this event is widely recognized as the first formal pickleball tournament ever staged — bringing together early pioneers of the game, including founder Barney McCallum and Hall of Famer Steve Paranto.

What Johannes built wasn’t just a tournament.
He helped turn a backyard pastime… into a sport.

🔥 WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS:

• The untold story behind the first-ever pickleball tournament (1976)
• How one facility helped push pickleball into the spotlight
• First-hand insight into the pioneers who shaped the game
• The bridge between pickleball’s origins… and its explosive growth today

📖 EXPLORE JOHANNES’ BOOK:

👉 Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=Pickleball+Bicentennial+Tournament+1976

👉 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Pickleball-Bicentennial-Tournament-Johannes-Lisiecki/dp/B0DZCVGX4S

If you care about the roots of the game, this is essential reading.

⚡ THE TRUTH:

Pickleball didn’t explode overnight.
It was built — quietly — by people like Johannes.

And if you don’t understand where it started…
you don’t fully understand where it’s going.

🎯 ABOUT THE SHOW:

“More than Dinks, Drops and Drives – Stories from Behind The Paddle.”

This is where the real stories live.

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU:

Do you know the moment you became addicted to pickleball?

🔔 SUBSCRIBE:

New episodes every Thursday at 1pm.

🏷️ HASHTAGS:

#Pickleball #PickleballHistory #KitchenConversations #JohannesLisiecki #BarneyMcCallum #SteveParanto #PickleballOrigins #BehindThePaddle #PickleballCanada #PickleballUSA #SportsHistory #PickleballLife #DinkDropDrive #PickleballCommunity #FirstTournament

And that wraps up this episode of Kitchen Conversations.

If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves the game as much as you do.

And if you want the full experience, including the visuals, head over to YouTube and watch the episode at

https://www.youtube.com/@KitchenConversationspodcast

Or search Kitchen Conversations Pickleball Podcast

That’s where these stories really come to life.

You’ll also find links and show notes in the episode description.

Until next time…

more than dinks, drops and drives…

these are stories from behind the paddle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Kitchen Conversations, and thanks for being here. We've got really just one goal with each episode, and that is to inspire one person to pick up a paddle and try the game of pickleball. And we think today's guest on this episode of Kitchen Conversations is going to help us get that accomplished. We sat down recently with Johannes Luzitski. He's an interesting gentleman. He's 86 years old today, but he in 1976 was the owner of the South Center Athletic Center in Washington State. And it is where the very first pickleball tournament in the world happened. Names like Steve Peronto, Barney McCallum, Joel Pritchard. These are names that if you love the game like I do, are instantly recognizable. They were all there. It was quite an event. You'll hear about it and more in today's episode of Kitchen Conversations. Well, hello, my friend, and welcome back to the podcast. I think we should be honest with everyone and tell them that this is our second attempt. We had, I think what they call in the industry some technical difficulties on the first time that you and I had met. So you're back today, and uh I'm excited to have a second conversation with you. So thank you for being here today. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, well, you have such a great story to tell. And I think when I started this podcast, you know, the whole intent was to meet people like yourself who have played a very significant role in the growth of the sport in North America and perhaps beyond. And when I encountered your story, I guess it was indirectly through Steve Peranto, who is a pickleball hall of famer, of course, and someone that was featured in your book that you wrote, and uh a gentleman that I'm gonna have a chance to talk to actually next week. So I'm quite excited about that. But I'd really like to start with you today, if we can, by hearing a bit about your background and how you ended up where you are today, and sort of how did that journey develop for you over the last several decades?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

So I happened to see this ad in the paper, and it said, Athletic Club for Sale. Okay. So what happened was um I always wanted to be in the athletic business, so I went and checked out what it was, and Lord behold, that is where I've met a fellow called Dan Cotler. Well, when he started talking, I thought, boy, I'm into it because I could tell that he was a promoter extraordinaire. Now, what Dan called an athletic club was not an athletic club. What he had is he was in a warehouse, he had a couple of courts laid out, and they were the the the surface was outdoor, indoor, outdoor carpet. And um, and it and I saw this net, and then he talked to me about pickleball that he had run across back in uh early 70s, like 73 or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Those two courts that were there in the warehouse that day, were they set up as pickleball courts at that time, or were they badminton courts, or were they actually?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

No, they they were set up as pickleball courts.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Okay, so when you first met him and saw the warehouse, they were already pickleball courts. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yes, they were set up as pickleball courts, but they were not there to promote pickleball to the public. What he had him there is he had a dream, and he wanted to build a company, and he wanted to build uh he called them sport courts, and that was courts that you would build in family homes. All right, and uh, you know, like play courts in family homes. And since he had heard about pickleball, he thought that might be a good idea to include, because it used basketball, uh badminton, uh, and all these other type normal sports. Right, sure. But what he noticed was as he was working on that, he didn't think that this was lend itself in the Pacific Northwest because in the wintertime, especially, because of weather, rain, uh uh wind, etc. And so he decided that um he uh uh he just wanted to leave the warehouse, and then he went to LA because that was warmer climate, and it was better to set this up and build his business. Then we were talking, and he says, you know, I I think this could be a real interesting thing if if it were put together as a court, as a as a well, yeah, a pickleball court indoor. And so I kept thinking about that, and he says, Well, have you ever played pickleball? I said, No, what is it? Uh well he said it's like a miniature tennis game. Let me show you. So he hands me this paddle, and then he hands me this ball with holes in it. Okay, I said, now what am I gonna do? So he shows me what I do. I hit the ball and hit it over the net. And I don't know what it was. We played, we didn't really play a game, but we played, we didn't play long, but he uh somehow I got fascinated. Right this is a wow, I this is amazing. So we talked about this, and then I I kept thinking about this, and I said, I'm okay, I'm gonna go home and I think about it, and then I came back. And uh then I said, Okay, what what would it be to just take over the lease here? He says, Well, the lease is about thirty six hundred dollars, and then you have about uh another thousand that's um like a triple net lease. Uh most people don't know what it is. You pay the power and you pay the the the regular maintenance stuff. Anyhow, I kept thinking three thousand dollars. Well, the lease was three thousand, that was four total of four thousand dollars. Well, I didn't have four thousand dollars. Huh. I kept thinking, I kept thinking. So finally I thought about my friend, and I called him and I asked him to go with me to look at what I had in mind, and he says to me, he says, now what you're up to.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

What are you cooking now? What do you got cooking now? Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

You know, he he knew me. Uh I met him first in 1968, and another interesting deal. In fact, he um he had a Cadillac, a 59 Cadillac for sale for 200 some bucks. And um I went to to uh see it. We liked the car, but it had bad tires. And I said, Well, I tell you what, I'll go to Sears and put some recaps on it. Those days you could still buy recaps. Right. All right, I bought the car, and from buying that car, a friendship developed, which is still alive today. He's 94 now, he's exactly 10 years older, and the same birthday as my wife. And um, so that's how how that came about. And I called him, I take him there, and I walk him in there, and he sees these courts, nothing there, and I tell him what what I think could be done with this. So, and I wonder whether you could loan me three thousand dollars for the lease to for the first months, so I can make arrangements to the bank. Well, he says I'll talk to Shirley about it, that's his wife. Three days later, two days, that was on the weekend, sort of Mondays. Shirley comes to our house with three grand cash.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

No, really, she believed in it.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, you see, Bob is the kind of guy he doesn't say much, he doesn't talk much, he is a very conservative guy, he acts upon things, so that was his confirmation that he thought I could be successful, so he was so convinced that he actually put his money in it. Now that's a rarity, no matter today is almost unheard of. Now, so that's how I ended up with the sports court facility there. The that was August 75. We immediately started promoting. I hired a couple of people, and the interesting thing is there I had no person whom I knew before except Bob become part of my team. They were all brand new people that I hired, and um the I had an ad put out, and then a guy Fox uh walks in, his name is was Danny Kutsonas. Never forget him, how could I? Then he became my second lieutenant, so to speak. He was a black belt karate guy, and um he was a great part in building the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Let me ask you just quickly before I forget the question. But tell me what was happening inside of that building when you first took over the lease. What sort of activities were happening? There were the two pickleball courts, I understand. What else what other sorts of activities did you have built into the program? Nothing warehouse and the two pickleball courts. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

That's it. Just the two uh presentation courts. Okay, got you. Okay. Now then of course you have the odd people that might come in and play a little or so on. But what I started then is I started to motive. In fact, uh we got the uh Tequila Police Department into the into the act at the court. So by uh August 31st, uh we had hired the f we had enrolled the first two members. Now from there my speculation was to enroll enough members to have to pay for this whole thing. The expansion was to be I could hold four pickleball courts, so we expanded it to four pickleball courts, but we had nobody to play yet. But we started to get people coming in in dribbles at first, membership started to go. I hired an architect, and then we designed the entire front part of the building because my idea of a fitness center or an athletic facility was in those days you did have no co ed facilities. You had what you called the European Health Space. The European Health Space there were muscle gyms, right? And they only would work uh four days for men, three days for women. Okay, they only had the basics like a bathroom, um, and and a shower and and the usual plain things, and a lot of weights. So my aesthetic idea was to a create a coat club, number two, have all facilities like like uh change rooms, uh toilet facilities, tanning salons, all these things. The only thing we couldn't have is of course a swimming pool. But the interesting thing is I I built it and then I build a deck over top where we could do other things, use it for exercise and etc. to do auxiliary things. So I had this whole thing under construction. I got a banker to finance a lot of it, uh, but it got more expensive as we went along. So kept scratching my head. The engine the members weren't coming in, and as we were building this whole thing, oh, in the meantime, I connected the Seahawks had just been formed in Seattle. So I got in touch with those, and pretty soon we have Seahawk members coming to the club. Anyway, we had the Seahawk members coming to the club. Now imagine these big guys from the Seahawk. I mean, 200 pounds of the song playing pickleball. It was hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Big football guys, yeah, I bet.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, and and then um I got into the sounders. I talked to the sounders uh coach. Well, then we had the sounders come in, and they just had a blast. They loved it because they they thought that that would be tremendous training. So then a couple of sounders got together and they created soccer volleyball. Okay, now soccer volleyball is we race the net, and then what they would do is they train kicking and heading over the ball, over the um net, and the thing would be the same as spickle ball, you had to return it. If you miss it, you lost the point, right? And that became people loved to watch it, you know, and they they really liked it because they thought that really built their agility, etc. All right, so we had those guys going. And um, so then it just started to evolve. People started to show up. We made advertising. Uh, I had I had it uh first uh uh one of the biggest and most famous uh commentators on Seattle Sports. He was an absolute genius when it came to advertising products, and he was loved, he was well known, and so he did then some advertising for us, and it started slowly building, but not enough to cover the costs. So it was the end of the year. It was just before Christmas. The banker thought, well, he thought this could be a different uh success, so he put his money on it. He gave me some more money. We created a a um a big promotion for the first Monday of the new year. Uh, how should I say it was not as um successful as I had uh hoped, but I did uh enroll a bunch of members, so then we sit down, and Danny and I, and and I think uh uh Dan Cot, yeah, Dan Cotler had just come up from uh LA for some reason because he still lived in that area. We sat there, okay. What could we do to make this successful? Now, here is the coincidences that happen. Well, as we were talking, the idea came up, it's a bicentennial year. How about we create a tournament? Okay, sounds pretty good. What um how are we gonna go about it? You know, this you have to find people, everything else, because nobody knows what pickleball is, no one had heard about a tournament or anything of that nature.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

In this moment, as this is all sort of happening, and it sounds very exciting. Was there any other facility in the area offering indoor pickleball? Or were you the only one in that whole region that had indoor nothing? Nothing, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Pickleball had not grown in any way beyond the home court, uh, and beyond the streets, like Barney McConnell, even they were playing at his house and on the street, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

One of the inventors of the game. Yeah, so what you were doing was really quite unique in and of itself. Before the tournament even happened, yeah, the fact that you had an indoor pickleball facility was really quite unique in that part of the world. And and really, I think we forget, yeah, we forget today because the game's become so popular, just how unique that must have been. So I think that's a point worth making. That and and I wanted to make sure we got to that today because I think um, you know, you should be given a lot of credit uh for that alone, let alone what you ended up doing with the tournament. But uh, yeah, the fact that you saw the vision in the in that rare house.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

It was the first pick of court in the uh indoor court in the world, I'm sure. Yeah, organized, let's put it that way. Then he actually came out with it. He says, Why not do a tournament? Okay, that was the first thing we hadn't decided on the name yet, but uh the we had in mind because it is bicentennial, but with the reception we received promoting that in the first week of January, we thought we probably could put together a good tournament. No idea how many we could attract, whether we would attract five, ten, fifty, or a hundred. There was absolutely no idea whatsoever. So we said, okay, we set it up. So what we did is we sent out flyers and made phone calls to let people know, and the ones that were coming about setting up a tournament, and uh that we plan to set up a tournament. It came all back very positive. People were calling in. When is the tournament gonna be? Uh, etc. And how would it be set up? Or first, this question is always when is the tournament? When is the tournament? All right, we sat down and say when is a good time? First of all, we gotta have a name. Okay, we call it the bicentennial tournament. Then we uh what is the date? Well, it was January, we have February, we have March, and things were tight, very, very tight financially. And I must honestly say the club folding the club, there were times it was 95%. I wasn't gonna pull it off. And um, but every time for some reason the banker came through with some extra money, he believed that this would go. So we decided on March 5th, 6th, and 7th. That was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So, what then happened was uh we started to seriously working, we started promoting, we sent out flyers, etc. etc. Everybody was on edge, people were calling in and calling in, and this is how it moved closer. Even the the the uh the the construction was just about completed, everything looked excited, uh, even the banker was excited, and other people. So on the 4th of March, we were just sitting there on pins and needles. We had no idea what will happen tomorrow. Well, it was incredible. Here is what we had planned to do, and what we did to attract people, we made it an open tournament. There is no fee, no qualification, how well you played. Anyone who would come was invited and was able to play. So, what happened is let's say uh the uh people started to come in, we had them sign in at the door, and that's all that to it, and then we lined them up. And then what we did is we they they we had enough pedals, which we had uh we got all the bar the balls. I got from Barney McCollum. I used to pick the balls up at his office at the uh Seattle uh farmers market center. That that's uh one of the most spectacular farmers markets in in the world, literally. And Barney had an office there, so we got all the balls from him, and then he had made some wooden pedals that I picked some up too. Now, we um then they had the pedals. Some people bought their own, that were usually some that had played before. So we just put them in the preliminary, we just put them together. So it could be one of the best players would play a novice, okay? So be it. But what it did is it wonderfully cleaned out. After Friday, we had all the stuff cleaned out. We didn't realize yet, but we had over 80 people there. Wow, what a turnout.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

What a turnout.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, it's just uh, you know, we it just unbelievable. So then what we did is uh a lot of them stayed and they wanted to see what's going on, and then Saturday it got into some serious playoffs. And um it just was it just was like what's going on here? And and there were no words that we could express. Then he would walk around like this, and and um and raising his fist. And so then finally there was real organization. I mean, there were some good players. In fact, we didn't know it at that time, but I mention it in a minute. So there were it just was uh enthusiasm, it was excitement, it was like an explosion with all these people there playing. The only time you've ever seen it, of course, it wasn't until the 80s you would see something like that. So we did the uh they we had the players come in from a whole bunch of them from the UDAP, tennis players. They had no idea what pickleball is, none of them. They had heard of it, but no one had played it. So they went got into it, and they just caught on just like that. They they it was similar to tennis, it's just they had to get used to the cord and to the pedal and the ball. So they were into it was uh it was absolutely uh uh a vengeance, is that a good word to use? They were they were into it, uh that it was just unreal, and some of them actually really peeled out.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Johannes, what do you think when all of this was happening and you the first time that you picked up that paddle and the and the pickleball and and you started to hit it across the net and get a feel? What and I you know, you've described this this weekend that was happening, it was somewhat electric and very energetic, and people were just beside themselves with the excitement of it all. And what what do you in that moment do you recall what were you thinking about the game? What what is it about pickleball that can create that type of excitement? I mean, it's you know, it's a funny game. It basically is a wiffle ball, and and and and in the times that we're talking, a wooden paddle, basically a uh what would have been a modern-day ping pong paddle at the time, and a little bit bigger, but I'm still trying to figure out as a player and a fan of the game today in 2026, what is so appealing about this game? What is it that draws people into this game and hooks them for life? Because, you know, what you did in 1975 and 76, you know, at the Athletic Center and ultimately developing this tournament, which has you know made history and uh you know, and subsequently the book, which we'll talk about here in a bit. But what what what is your opinion of that? What what about this game is so addictive and so attractive?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Actually, it's it's very simple because you see, what what attracted me is that I saw in pickleball because I remember me sitting in a chair before I even decided after I had played it and looking at these courts with my eyes actually closed, and I was kept thinking, could this be a commercial enterprise? Right, okay. Well, I wasn't sure because you see, if I would have really done my due diligence uh due diligence and looked into this, I would never have started it for the simple reason is where would the customers come from? There was no no customer base, no player base. But anyway, and I thought, well, maybe I can create it because what attracted me was you see the the big games today, whether you take volleyball volleyball, whether you take basketball, whether you take especially um soccer, for example, well soccer is very close, close with the idea of of pickleball, of attracting people, but uh baseball, you know the average person as they grow up, they could not participate uh in basketball, they could not participate in uh pickleball, not not pickleball, in any other major sports out there, because they uh even small kids or young kids couldn't participate unless they were good, good in that particular sport and possibly make a career. And with those sports, they are always promoted as career and big money sports, but pickleball was different because uh what I noticed was that people could actually get involved into this sport. It was not like tennis, because the percentage of tennis players compared to the population is probably pretty remote. See the the the the the the the because you cannot yes, some people play tennis until they uh get very high in age, no question about it. But uh it does not create that kind of excitement as pickleball, because uh um this is actually what attracted me because you have father and son, father and daughter, mother and son, mother and daughter. Some of those little kids that I have seen on online, right? They are mind-boggling, you know, and and some of the older people, there is no way that they could ever get that excited in a conventional sport.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah, well, you know, I had a chat last week with a very interesting gentleman out of the UK, Johannes, and uh, you know, I asked him that similar question, and he's very involved in in the sport and in the pickleball community. He runs a very large Facebook group out of the UK, and I asked him kind of what he thought the appeal was, and and he made a very interesting point and something I hadn't thought about. I mean, the cost of entry and the accessibility of it is kind of what you're talking about. If you have a pair of shoes, that's really all you need. Most clubs are offering demo paddles or you know, try before you buy tight programs now. But the other interesting point that he made, and I'd never thought of it, he said, unlike a lot of other sports, the games are very short. You go on the court for 12, 15, maybe 18 minutes, and and the game's over. And so then you come off the court, the next people go out, and you get a chance to sit courtside and we get to talk to each other, and we get to get to know each other, and we share stories and we become friends. And then from that friendship, we developed new games, and now we're booking a game next week with each other because we like each other. And so it was an interesting observation. And he was saying, you know, he came out of a 50-year tennis career. Uh, so he played tennis since he was a young child and gave up tennis for pickleball. So he had a very fascinating story, but his whole uh premise to the popularity of it all was really centered around the fact that you go in, you play, you step out, and now you have a chance to to build some friendships. And I think I think that's part of it. And certainly what you're saying, you know, the accessibility of the sport, I think is is core to its success for sure. Yeah, I agree with that. Thank you. It's a great thought.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Absolute. I didn't even register that with the less the cost. I mean, even a basketball will cost more than it is. See, this is why I find it so ridiculous. These people charging $400 for a paddle. That's ridiculous. Yeah, that is totally and they sell it.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

So take me back to the tournament then. Well, I don't want to lose track of that. So you you have this event over the course of a three-day weekend, 80 people show up. Uh, you get down to where there's some pretty good competition, you've got lots of excitement. What what happens then? How the tournament wraps up, and how do we segue from that weekend into the book that you ultimately put together? And what took you so long to do the book? What what was the story behind the tournament happening in 76 and the book coming out? And can you can you help me understand that a little bit better?

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Yes. I never I never ever had in mind to write the book.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Uh, because I thought, you know, it's just another. And then I read some things about pickleball, but and all I read is the rehashed thing, you know, was invented on Bainbridge Island, uh, it and the conflicting things, you know, about the dog and and whatever you write about the whole thing. Um I it was in uh April two years ago. Yes, April two years ago, I reserved I received a birthday card from this friend of mine. And when I called him, well, it says on the birthday card, it says the game is on. Okay, you have balls.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Oh, that's what he sent you for your birthday.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Let's see, I don't even know where I put it now. I love it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

But uh he sent that to you on your birthday, sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

I just cracked up. So I called uh Bob up, and uh I was still laughing on the phone. I still laughing, so anyhow, he said as we make the conversation, he says, You should write about that.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

I said, Well, maybe I do. So I sat here for a while afterwards, a couple of weeks or so on, and I thought, hmm. I'll try. Try. I'll try and write and see what comes up. So I started writing the book, and uh there are many reasons or so on. I never used an editor or so on, but I used quite a bit of uh IA to uh put it together. And uh I it it doesn't turn out to be the story is fine because it ends up to be more like a fireside story. I should just tell a story, it's not like a novel or a or a precise uh biography. What it is is a biography in the form of a story. The pictures didn't turn out um as well as they should have. That's why I redid the um the ebook, because I can change the e-book anytime. So, anyhow, it it needed uh professional help. So I won't say it is a great book, but it's a great story, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Right. And sometimes those are two totally different things a great book and a great story don't necessarily coincide.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Exactly, you see. Yes, uh, it's like I would have tell it I didn't know. Now I worked on that. Now imagine that's now two years ago already, and there it is. You know, it's um amazing. That's how it got about the book. Again, coincidence.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Yes, a birthday card. A birthday card sparks it. You know, it's interesting to me. I've been around the game now, Johannes, for about three years. I love the game, I consider myself a super fan. You know, I really do enjoy it, and I think there's a lot of value for me personally to be out there and and meeting people and connecting. And the and this podcast, me meeting you today, doesn't happen if I'm not involved in pickleball. And if you don't have the story that you have, and if Steve Peranto isn't somehow connected to both of us in in different ways for different reasons, but uh I'm I'm disappointed that I didn't know the story, that I didn't hear your story sooner. So I'm I'm hoping in some small way that as this podcast starts to gain a bit of traction over the next little while that we're able to share a bit of that because it is absolutely a story in the pickleball, uh in the history of pickleball that really needs to be told. And uh I I've yet to come across it anywhere else. And that doesn't mean it's not out there, it just means I haven't found it yet. But I think your story is a terrific story.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

No, it is not out there. You see, the reason it's not out there is because no one asked.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Right, right. But in 1976, yeah, sorry, the tournament wraps up that weekend, yeah, and then you know, your life takes a bunch of different directions because it doesn't stay still for long. I've learned that about you in the short time I've known you. So you move on to new and different things and and sell the club. And but you know, the story just kind of goes quiet at that point, it goes a bit dormant. The weekend is kind of over, there's not a repeat event, like there's not an annual event that comes out of this. So uh, you know, so here we are all these years later, you know, in 2026, sitting down together and talking about something that happened in 1976. I I think that's pretty fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Well, let's touch a little bit on what happened after I left the club. Sure. It uh some very interesting things. I ran, I literally just about went out of money, period. Because my and I write about it in the book, because my and I got to the point where my fan financing ability was starting to run dry, and by coincident, I get a phone call from the owner of the European Health Spirit, and he asked me whether I would be interested in selling the club. Well, the the the the since I was running out of money uh I seemed to have uh because it needed some serious financial backing, I was ready to to sell the club. The the um and that's again I I say in uh in the story, but they took over the club and they uh in a way uh expanded it. I understand they did do some tournaments or try to anyway, but uh I don't think it uh touched them because the manager of the uh of the European health spa, he was an extremely athletic guy, and we would play games sometimes to 50 points by the by the time now another thing we didn't mention either is that at South Center Athletic Club our games all went to 21 points. Ah, okay. We did not always have the little games, 21 points, and you needed two points to win. Sure, sure. Anyhow, so they took over that, and then what happened was you see South Santa Athletic Club, I believe, is the second most important event that came about after the invention because uh it took it technically right, it took it out of the backyard and put it in the public big time. Right, right. Now then they what they did is you see, in my concept, athletic concept, Family Fitness Center expanded this. Now, Family Fitness Center now started to design and bring and build brand new clubs, and they are all built copying my concept, right? Same basic concept, except more elaborate, new, and they added a small swimming pool to it. See, my the club South Center had actually a jogging track around the perimeter. I don't remember exactly how much it was, but I had a guy, he he did even that internal jogging tack, he'll run a six and a half minute mile.

unknown 41:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

I could do it, I could do it in about nine at the time.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

That's so pretty quick.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Yeah, and um so what they did with the new clubs is they actually I have a picture in the book, they actually build a jogging track above the pickleball court, and it's about in like in the second floor almost, and that's where a jogging track goes around the whole darn club, and then the rest of it is basically place added uh racquetball, etc. Sure. Now that is on that part, but then in the early 80s, I understand they um there's a guy in in North Seattle, I forget now his name. Uh he's actually, I think he's actually in the um pickleball hall of fame, but uh he has done apparently other things, but they he started to hold tournaments, small tournaments in North Seattle, but that wasn't until 1982.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Right. Yeah, long after the long after your tournament in 76, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

And I'm sure that his info, a lot of it came from South Center. So uh that was 82. Then, and I think the more the the third big big event that happened in pickleball is 1984.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

His father came up with the first composite pickleball paddle, yeah, and ironically, from Boeing using floorboards, excess floorboard material. Yeah, exactly. So there's the interesting thing is here you are in 1976, having had a career at Boeing at one point, short-lived, but there nonetheless, traveled across the country to Seattle, had a great time, got the two days off with pay, we're making good money, and then all of a sudden, all these years later, there's another Boeing connection. So I really can't believe how interlaced this pickleball industry is. And exactly somebody that you meet today, you just never know where you might bump into them down the road, which is great. But but that tournament and That weekend and subsequently the book, um, you know, just a fascinating piece of pickleball history. And it's a real honor for me to have a chance to be a small part of that and to hear your story directly. And and I'm so pleased about that. For those listening today, whenever today might be for them, how do how do we access that book? Is there a way for someone to purchase that book or to go online and buy it? What's how do we get to the book?

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Uh go uh to Amazon.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Okay, so it's on Amazon. And is it a paperback? Yeah, is it a paperback, Johannes? Is it yeah?

SPEAKER_00 44:31

There's a paperback and there's a preliminary e-book. Great. Paperback is there, and I will be coming out with a new ebook, the updated ebook, uh very shortly.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

Okay. Now, when you say updated, is it just a physical change to the book or are you changing the content of the book?

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Some content, but not the major content, right? But I added some a few things to the content. Wow. It's it's it's uh you know, this is actually a live book. And I I made I made the um ebook a live book, and eventually uh there may be something else. There may be some stories from other people that might want to contribute to it, you see. Sure. But unfortunately, uh I'm having some age problems now. I don't know whether I still get to do it. Right, right. The worst is the lack of concentration. As you notice, um, sometimes I can't even remember Steve Baranto.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Yeah, well, listen, uh, with all due respect to your age, I think you're doing terrific. I think you know, I'm sitting here talking to you today at 59, and if I can be half as sharp as you are at 84, I'll be quite thrilled. So I I'd go a little easier. 84.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

Thank you. I'll be 86 next month.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Okay, I thought we were talking 84, even better. I'll be even happier than when I get to 86. So yeah. Well, listen, this has been a real treat today and and a chance to get a sense of your story. And I still think there's a lot that's untold. And I'd like a chance to maybe connect with you again a bit down the road once I get a little more uh of this podcast sort of underway and up and running. And uh, but I I think today has been just a great chance to go back and talk again about the book. And we had that technical issue, as we mentioned, out of the gate, and today's gone much better. Everybody's been clear, and I can see you well and I can hear you great. So I think we did a good job today and.