By Evan Walsh
Contributing Writer
WESTBOROUGH – Nelson Ball has been called the “father of pickleball” in Westborough. And it all started with one fateful “pop.”
While playing tennis in Venice, Florida, Ball heard an unusual noise from across the gym. The sound was a mere distraction—or maybe it was fate—but he followed this unfamiliar “popping” sound across the building, where he discovered two gentlemen playing pickleball, a then up-and-coming sport that involves two (or more) paddles and a perforated ball.
Longtime tennis player
Ball was a longtime tennis player, but his athletic group “imploded” as people reached their 80s and were no longer quite agile enough to hustle around the court. Pickleball didn’t have the popularity it enjoys today when Ball stumbled upon it several years ago. But, in that moment, he realized just how big it could become—especially for seniors.
“I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to have to learn that game,’” Ball told the Fifty Plus Advocate.
An early adopter of the sport, Ball and his pickleball posse started as roving athletes, tracking down areas across Central Mass. to break out the paddles. With a lack of dedicated pickleball courts, his group would bring painter’s tape to mark off the “kitchen” and weigh down tennis nets with 10-pound weights. Nothing would stop this group from a good pickleball session.
As the sport grew, more courts were restriped or constructed, including four in Westborough. But Ball still felt like there was more capacity for pickleball in his hometown. So, in 2020, he footed the bill to construct four more public courts along Lake Chauncy. The courts are officially known as the Nelson Ball Pickleball Courts, and Ball lives within walking distance.
Now 93 years old, Ball works three days a week. The other days? He’s out on the court.
“When I drive by, it’s so great just to see all those people using the courts. I did it because I thought there really wasn’t anything for adults—and we had to do something for the seniors,” said Ball. “It’s a great mixer. It’s not so much the physical element, it’s the sociability for seniors. That’s so important. They meet new people and they do things. I’ve had people tell me I saved their life.”
An amazing life
But anyone who knows Ball understands that his dedication to pickleball is just one small part of his amazing life. Through decades of volunteer and philanthropic efforts, Ball has worked tirelessly to improve Westborough in just about every area. Sure as the sound of the pickleball hitting the paddle, he’s lived a life that truly “pops” off the page.
Ball was born in Orange, New Jersey, a township just outside of Newark. Growing up in the end of the Great Depression, life wasn’t always easy for Ball. He didn’t have a car, so to get to his classes at Upsala College, he took a train and walked several miles to campus; his father worked on the railroads to defray some of the cost. Ball held down four jobs and worked as a milkman to afford his $400 annual tuition. The drum major of Upsala’s band, he eventually married Sylvia, the drum majorette.
After college, Ball enlisted in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Korea from 1954 to 1957, just after the fighting subsided. As part of his role as a counterintelligence agent, Ball spent over 1,400 hours in class learning Korean—and he still speaks the language today. During his time in Korea, he visited an orphanage and dressed up as Santa for the children.
“Except for being away from my two-month-old daughter and wife, I had a good tour,” Ball remembered. “One of the best things I did was I taught English to seven college women while I was there. I never realized how difficult English was to learn. They wouldn’t understand me at first, but by the time I left, they got all the puns and the jokes.”
After his time in Korea, Ball landed a job in Westborough, a “great town” where he has spent the majority of his life since. In 1965, he started Ball Financial Services. From humble beginnings, the organization has grown to become one of Central Mass.’s preeminent financial companies. Two of Ball’s children manage the company today, which has remained headquartered in town.
“I didn’t have an office. I ran the business out of my basement for five years—with five kids. Everybody thought I was crazy, and they were probably right, but it worked out very well,” said Ball.
Beyond business—and pickleball—Ball has continued to give back to the community. In 1969, he became the charter president of the Westborough Rotary Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. He served as the scholarship chairman for a quarter-century, giving over $1 million in aid over the years to Westborough students. He’s still an active member.
There are the other awards and accomplishments, but Ball spends a great deal of time on his other main passion: music. A member of the Interboro Community Band, he plays the trombone. Ball was also the first president of the Westborough Music Parents Association. Without music, he says, the world would “be flat.”
At 93, Ball has no plans to stop running his business, playing the trombone, and, yes, playing pickleball. His uncle and grandfather both worked until they were 95, he said, with the latter living until 103. So, that’s the goal, Ball said laughing.
With all this success—business-wise, music-wise, family-wise, and more—how does Ball explain how he achieved such an admirable life? A devout member of Westborough’s First United Methodist Church, he answered the question promptly—his faith.
“Trust in God. He’s been so good to us. We’re so thankful for everything.”
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