There’s a version of pickleball most people know now—leagues, sponsorships, pro tours, gear everywhere.

Fran Myer was around before any of that existed.

Not as a founder. Not as someone chasing a business opportunity. Just someone who kept saying yes as the sport was figuring itself out. Because of that, she ended up helping build some of the first real structure behind it.

How Fran Myer Found Pickleball Later in Life

Fran didn’t grow up playing sports. She studied ballet, played multiple instruments, and spent most of her early adult life working—often juggling several jobs at once. At one point, she was working seven days a week across four different roles.

Sports weren’t really part of the equation.

Pickleball didn’t show up until her early 40s, after back surgery, when she was looking for a way to stay active. At the time, it didn’t feel like anything significant.

Then it stuck.

She started playing in local tournaments in the early 90s and quickly found herself pulled deeper into the sport. Within a few years, she was competing regularly—and winning. By the time her career leveled out, she had close to 200 medals and national-level results.

At the same time, she was building something off the court that didn’t really exist yet.

The First Pickleball Website and Online Store

In 1999, Fran found herself with a little extra time and decided to build a website. She had no background in tech, no real plan, and no expectation that it would turn into anything significant. She just picked a topic she liked—pickleball—and started putting information together.

At first, the site was simple. Rules. Places to play. How to build courts. Tournament listings. It filled a gap at a time when information about the sport wasn't easy to find.

Then people started asking where to buy paddles.

So she figured that out too.

That site became Pickleball Stuff, the first online retail store dedicated to the sport. The way it operated says everything about where pickleball was at the time—inventory was sent without upfront payment, orders were shipped with invoices inside the box, customers paid after they received the product.

“It was really the Wild West back then.”

It shouldn’t have worked. But it did.

More importantly, it connected players across the country when there wasn’t a clear system for doing that yet. It gave people access to equipment, information, and a growing sense that this wasn’t just a backyard game anymore.

Fran Myer’s Role in Building USA Pickleball and Early Tournaments

As more people started playing, Fran moved into the part most people avoid—organizing it.

She and her husband Barney became commissioners for pickleball at the Washington State Senior Games Pickleball and helped run those events for nearly a decade. She assisted with the first USAPA National Tournament and later served as co-director for multiple years. When USA Pickleball was forming, she was part of that group as a charter member and went on to serve on the board for eight years.

This was before things were standardized—before clear systems, rankings, or consistent tournament structure. A lot of it was being built in real time by people willing to step in and figure it out.

Fran was one of those people.

“The Forrest Gump of Pickleball”

Fran has a way of describing her place in all of it that’s probably more accurate than anything else:

“I’m the Forrest Gump of pickleball.”

She wasn’t chasing recognition. She wasn’t trying to position herself as important to the sport. She just kept stepping into whatever was needed next—building a website, running tournaments, supporting a governing body, competing.

It all happened alongside everything else in her life, not instead of it.

The Personal Side of Fran Myer’s Pickleball Story

Pickleball also shaped her life in ways that had nothing to do with medals or milestones. It’s where she met her husband. It’s what they built together. And it’s what they centered their time around for years.

They even got married on a pickleball court.

It sounds like a detail that would be exaggerated over time, but in her case, it fits. Eventually, pickleball stopped being separate from everything else.

She went on to become the first woman inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame in 2018, a recognition that reflects how much she contributed across different parts of the sport—not just as a player, but as someone who helped make it accessible, organized, and easier to grow.

Why Fran Myer Still Matters in Pickleball Today

Right now, most conversations around pickleball are focused on what’s next—expansion, investment, visibility, bigger stages.

Fran’s story sits on the other side of that timeline. You can even spot her in The Power of Pickleball documentary.

It’s what the sport looked like when there wasn’t a clear upside. When there wasn’t a roadmap. When the people involved were building things simply because they believed in it and wanted to see it grow.

She didn’t approach it like a business opportunity. She approached it like something worth showing up for.

And that ended up shaping more of the sport than most people realize.

Fran Myer Helped Build Pickleball Before There Was Anything to Build