{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fca30e9cc-c6f1-4447-b1d4-5b169d1336c5","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"July 29, 2022 Best Friday Ever #BFE With John Landes. Pickleball, Monkeypox, Recession and The Happiest Kingdom on Earth","description":"
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\nThe Happiness Index
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\nBhutan (The Happy Kingdom)
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\nPickleball
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\nAfter playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard\u2019s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net.As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard\u2019s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
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\nRep. Joel Pritchard
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\n1967
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\nThe first permanent pickleball court was constructed in the backyard of Joel Pritchard\u2019s friend and neighbor, Bob O\u2019Brian.
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\n1972
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\nA corporation was formed to protect the creation of this new sport.
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\nOriginal Pickleball Court
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\n1975
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\nThe National Observer published an article about pickleball followed by a 1976 article in Tennis magazine about \u201cAmerica\u2019s newest racquet sport.\u201d
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\n1976
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\nDuring the spring of 1976, the first known pickleball tournament in the world was held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. David Lester won Men\u2019s Singles and Steve Paranto placed second. Many of the participants were college tennis players who knew very little about pickleball. In fact, they practiced with large wood paddles and a softball sized plastic ball.
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\n1978
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\nThe book, The Other Raquet Sports, was published and included information about pickleball.
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\n1982
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\nPickleball pioneer, Sid Williams began playing and organizing tournaments in Washington state.
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\n1984
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\nThe United States Amateur Pickleball Association (U.S.A.P.A.) was organized to perpetuate the growth and advancement of pickleball on a national level. The first rulebook was published in March 1984.
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\nThe first Executive Director and President of U.S.A.P.A. was Sid Williams who served from 1984 to 1998. He was followed by Frank Candelario who kept things going until 2004.
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\nThe first composite paddle was made by Arlen Paranto, a Boeing Industrial Engineer. He used the fiberglass/nomex honeycomb panels that commercial airlines use for their floors and part of the airplane\u2019s structural system. Arlen made about 1,000 paddles from fiberglass/honeycomb core and graphite/honeycomb core materials until he sold the company to Frank Candelario.
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\n1990
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\nPickleball was being played in all 50 states.
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\n1992
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\nPickle-Ball, Inc. manufactured pickleballs in-house with a custom drilling ...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/09fdb47f-805a-478c-a8a5-17d4768e9793/black-and-white-man-portraits-arts-culture-podcast-cover-1.png"}