Updated: 5/21/20 | May 21, 2020. Original post: July 2019
This was a very popular post because how often in a lifetime do you get a chance to send a birthday message to a co-founder of our sport. Almost 1,000 birthday wishes were sent to Barney … Priceless. Barney McCallum – A Wonderful Life
Did you know that there is just ONE living founder of pickleball and soon he will be 93 years old?
Yes, it’s Barney McCallum of Seattle, Washington. Wish him a happy birthday and share your pickleball history, story, and gratitude with him. He loves hearing from players around the world and their story of why they love pickleball.
The below link goes to a Google Form where you can submit your best wishes. Every week or so the birthday wishes from around the world will be printed out and given to Barney. (He prefers the printed format … no computers for him!)
This Form has been removed.
(All birthday wishes need to be submitted by September 15, 2019. Why wait, no one is getting younger, share your happy birthday wishes NOW!)
Want More Birthday Fun? Check out this YouTube video from the summer of 2015 – pickleball’s 50th birthday celebration where Alex Hamner and myself (Jennifer Lucore in white) are singing with Barney McCallum on the original court on Bainbridge Island, WA. We do like to have pickleball fun where ever we go.
I have always loved this photo, for that day together on the original court was very special.
Happy Birthday, Barney McCallum and thank you so much for Pickleball it is now my life passion and I love it. God bless you and may you have a beautiful birthday.
Happy Birthday Barney. My husband and I started playing PB 10 years ago and never looked back. Learned from a neighbor who learned in the Villages, FL. We live in CT and have gotten another 20 or so players loving the game!
Happy Birthday. Glad you invented the game! thank you!!
Happy birthday, Barney, and thank you so much for Pickleball! Been playing since I retired 5 yrs ago. Love getting in my exercise this way a few days a week. God bless!
Happy BDay, Barney, from Vancouver, BC, Canada. I am so grateful for what you have created, a sport that changed lives of millions.
I started Pkb three years ago, after 35y of tennis, and haven’t played a tennis match since. Now I play Pkb 15hours/week, I lost 35lbs since I started playing, and I feel great. Definitely I am addicted to Pkb, but I consider it a good addiction.
Thank you!
PS. I wish you would had given Pickleball a less funny name. But we love you anyhow.
THanks for this opportunity.
On your birthday and every day, please know that something you had a hand in has brought so much joy and laughter to so many for so long. I only began playing pickleball in May 2017, about 2 years after I retired, and it has given me many more friends than I could have imagined. I worried when I retired about what I would do with my time…I tried dog walking and working on trail maintenance. But, after one lesson of pickleball, I found myself organizing groups to learn the game and play together, and I also joined the board of directors of the Prescott Pickleball Association to help them with their website. I have a core group of 5 gals, we call ourselves the Sunrise Girls because we play at 0515, before my friends have to go to work. We now organize week-long trips to other towns to play in tournaments, plus go on hiking trails. The game you created is not only keeping me physically active, but mentally also. Thank you, Barney, and Happy Birthday.
Barney, thank you for being the reason our last 10 years of retirement has been so outstanding! You have brought fun, laughter, competition, good health, new friends and so much more to so many lives. Happy Birthday and best wishes to you.
Dear Mr. McCallum,Can’t hank you enough for creating a sport that changed my life two years ago !! Jennifer does a great job promoting. A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sir !
Hey John, thanks for the comment, if possible share your message into the google form 🙂 Take care!
Some 9 years ago, my husband and I moved from Wisconsin, our home of 60 years, to Virginia, to sell my husband’s deceased parents’ home. It was a lonely time, until 2 weeks after our arrival, I saw a front page article in the local paper about pickleball at the local YMCA. We joined, we played, we made friends. Selling the home, we moved to California 10 months later, to be near our son and his family. Traveling across the country, we googled pickleball to learn that it had been started at a local community through Recreation and Parks one week earlier. Fast forward to today, we have made over 200 friends, built courts in several community locations, and I, the ambassador, am grateful for you every day of my life. Happy wonderful birthday!
Thanks for best wishes Kathy, if possible copy and paste your message into the google form. Great story!