Max Manthou is a Husky tennis star, a pickleball champion and an anthropology scholar. He's also known as Purple Jesus on the courts. (He recently published a book titled “A Pickleball Gospel: The Harmony of Competition and Cooperation in Sport.”) He tells us his origin story, from the allure of tennis to the “coopetition” of pickleball.
“When I was a kid, I was put in a swim class at a swim and tennis club in Kent.
“I was the only kid who couldn’t float, but I liked tennis. Most top-level tennis players skip high school, but I had fun being around the other kids. I was on an amazing team at Kentwood. We won the AAAA championship. When I was a high school freshman, coach Matt Anger invited me to visit the UW. It wasn’t difficult to woo me; my parents are both Huskies.
“After college, I went to Indonesia for the Peace Corps. I came back and suddenly pickleball was booming. I had been, at one point, in the top thousand in the world for tennis, so I figured that after about an hour on the court, I would be the best player.
“But that didn’t happen. I didn’t win a game the whole day. It was very humbling. I was hooked!
“I made pickleball the focus of my master’s degree in anthropology. I spent eight months as an observer in yards, courts, barns and parks—anywhere pickleball is played. The sport has so many cooperative elements that are not highlighted or understood. I call it “coopetition.”
“I’ve turned my thesis research into a book for a popular audience, “A Pickleball Gospel: The Harmony of Competition and Cooperation in Sport.”
“I’m now a professional pickleball player. My partner, Erik Lange, and I went to this big tournament in Miami and played one of the best teams in the world and smacked them. It was a big upset. That somehow got me drafted into Major League Pickleball.
“Pickleball is competitive, but also very social and playful. Go to any park and you’ll notice giggling, laughing and funny remarks. People comment on the fun factor more than any other sport I’ve been in.”