FROM THE USAPA
Gladys Hill played golf in the Senior Olympics , which led to her husband pushing for the inclusion of his favorite sport .
“ This was just barely starting over here with all new players . Some of those players ( at Happy Trails ) were pretty adept at it ,” Mr . Hill said . ” Since we had four courts we decided it might not be a bad idea to have a tournament . I checked into the Arizona Senior Olympics . They didn ’ t have pickleball . They didn ’ t know what it was .”
Senior Olympics organizers went ahead with the idea , provided the pickleballers could wrangle up 15 players . More than 100 participated in the 2001 tournament .
It was bigger than any tournament Mr . Hill played at in Washington . And it was only the beginning .
“ So the word got back to the Northwest — Seattle area , Portland , and where all the ‘ snowbirds ’ are . They said , ‘ Hey , they ’ ve got this game going in Surprise . They ’ ve got dedicated courts and this huge tournament out here ,” Mr . Davis said .
Happy Trails hosted the first three tournaments . Mr . Hill envisioned a bigger tournament on newer courts at Arizona Traditions .
Soon after the Senior Olympics , things began to move on that front .
“ One day a couple of guys in dark suits came over . I knew one of them was the business manager here for D . R . Horton . The other guy was the sales manager . They came over here to see what all these people were doing , having so much fun . He could see dollar signs , that this would help sell lots ,” Mr . Hill said .
Mr . Hamer ’ s construction background came in handy in putting together the courts , which have not cracked in more than a decade of use . When lighting proved too expensive , Mr . Hamer found some surplus tennis lights at a salvage yard for $ 700 ; DIY welder four extra inches to each light standard and up they went .
D . R . Horton built six courts in the community by 2004 and the Senior Olympics tournament moved in for the next five years .
Even two years into that arrangement , the 500-plusperson tournament field had outgrown six courts so Sun City Grand chipped in to host half the matches . The much larger neighboring active adult community took to pickleball after residents Bill and Jan Booth joined the players at Arizona Traditions .
Other West Valley retirement communities caught on after that .
“ It was Happy Trails and Traditions . Then ( Sun City ) Grand caught on , then the Sun Cities and Pebble Creek ,” Mr . Davis said .
By 2005 Mr . Hill and Mr . Davis were among the cornerstones in the formation of the national USAPA organization . Mark
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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 | MAGAZINE 9