Grover and Cathy Lombard
Charla McGue
I was thinking about the PebbleCreek Pickleball Club of 1,700+ members and became curious about its origins. Who started it? When? How? I did a little digging and needed to go no further than Sarah Marsh, who led me to Beth Kelly, a wealth of detail on this very topic.
So let me take you back to the beginning in 2005 when Grover and Cathy Lombard moved here from Seattle. Shortly after his arrival, Grover promoted pickleball on the eGroup—PebbleCreek didn’t even have a court at that time. Grover and a friend, Lou Ann Ashburn, went to Robson Communities to request they build some pickleball courts within the PebbleCreek community. Robson’s response was “start a club, create a Board of Directors, write some bylaws, and have 30 to 40 members.” And that is what they did.
Lou Ann, known as the pickleball lady, was the first member of the newly created PebbleCreek Pickleball Club (PCPC). On Jan. 24, 2007, the club held its first meeting and elected its board (President Grover Lumbard, Vice President Mo Kerrin, Secretary Sandy Kuester, and Treasurer Keith Kuester). Back in ’07 most residents had never heard of pickleball. There was an exhibition held at the Eagle’s Nest tennis courts with a temporary net and interest grew from there. Plans were drawn up for four north-south oriented courts next to the Arts Center in Tuscany Falls. Much to Grover’s surprise, Robson increased the number of courts from 4 to 8 because Ed Robson, an avid supporter of sports, already knew the club would outgrow their space before the space was even created.
Between the time of the plans being drawn and the courts completed, the first pickleball court, known as “The Wall,” was converted from a small basketball court near the tennis courts on Eagle’s Nest side. The wall was four feet from the service line and a lot of blood was shed on that wall. Larry Bergam, Dan Greville, Bob Herzig, and Dave Beau became known as “the Bloody Boys” as they so often bounced off that wall. Players would sign up on a sheet of paper posted at the court, but people would scratch names off so they could have more play time. Even then they were addicted to the sport.
On June 8, 2007, the Pickleball Club held its first social in the Chianti Room at Tuscany Falls with Jeff Stone as the Master of Ceremonies. Unfortunately, they were asked to leave early because the music was too loud. We haven’t changed much since our roots, have we? In July, Pancho Epstein wrote and submitted the first PebbleCreek Pickleball Club article to the PebbleCreek Post and word grew from there.
On Nov. 18 the eight new pickleball courts were opened for play, and 170 members came out for the event. Walter and Betty Doyle arrived at 5:30 p.m. to be the first members on them. Helen Hurley would post the court schedule every morning and did so for a year. Due to the limited gate access, Pancho would walk on the court, stopping play by yelling “Old Man Walking” so other players could get to their court. The club website was created by Alan Kornbluth and a clinic was put on by multi-time National Champion Steve Wong. Art House was the club’s first instructor and a major contributor to the club.
That was the beginning of something that has grown to over 1,700 members and 36 courts by 2024. I don’t think this club is done growing or expanding; nor have we yet to find a cure for our addiction, but only the future knows for sure.