Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

the way Pickleball started. The story is that the height of the net was Joel’s hip bone. And
it just got going. All the guys invested some money into it. But Barney’s son sort of took
it on as a business and broadened it, marketed it and put together a professional sort
of game that you could buy. Pretty soon we were getting stories back from all over the
world where Pickleball was put in. Bill and Tina, when they were living in Indonesia, had
one built in their yard and would invite all these dignitaries over. They ended up playing
Pickleball. About a year ago, in fact, I was watching the “Today” show, or GMA (Good
Morning America) and, by golly, they announced, “In the next hour we’re going to talk
about a new game called Pickleball.” Well, of course, it’s not a new game. It was around in
the ’60s. They had a demonstration in the studio. It’s a great game because it doesn’t take
up a lot of space. Anybody can play it, but not everybody can play it really well. It’s very
challenging if you play it really well.
Hughes: Was Joel good at it?
Evans: He was very good. Joel was a good athlete. We all got really pretty good at
Pickleball.
Hughes: Rest in peace, Joel Pritchard. He had to be one of the sweetest, brightest men I’ve
ever met. Was he a dear friend of yours?
Evans: Joel was a very special friend, yes. Like a brother.
Hughes: So the future lieutenant governor invented Pickleball and you had a court at the
Mansion?
Evans: We did. We built it sort of late, in the ’70s, and we lit it so we could play it at night.
The state didn’t pay for this. We did. And we would have people to dinner, just friends,
and then we’d go out because in the evenings it was so pleasant. There was a hedge that
sort of protected it from the wind. And we’d play Pickleball. Dan and the kids played it.
We were often asked to donate things to charity, to auctions like PONCHO in Seattle. And
we often would say “Dinner at the Mansion with Pickleball,” or a picnic or something. We
enjoyed it.
Hughes: And bike riding, too? I saw pictures of everyone on bikes.
Evans: We all had bikes.
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