(I wrote a similar version of this story for the July issue of Pickleball Magazine. It is published here with the magazine’s permission.)
The excitement in his voice is palpable and booms through the phone because he is minutes away from doing his favorite thing.
“I’m driving to play pickleball right now,” Terrell Owens says from his car in Southern California.
Yes, that Terrell Owens.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer who caught 1078 passes in his 15-year career has caught the pickleball bug.
Known as “T.O.” to his fans, Owens is widely regarded as one of the top five receivers in NFL history. He played from 1996 through 2010 for five teams and is in the top 10 in every major receiving category, ranking 3rd all-time among receivers with 153 touchdowns. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection, five times all-pro, named to the 2000’s All-Decade team and enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2018.
Owens is part of a growing group of former NFL players who play pickleball regularly, including Nick Foles, Larry Fitzgerald, Golden Tate and Rodney Adams. Former Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Ryan Finley is a touring pro (his Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating is just under 6.0 in singles and doubles) with the Professional Pickleball Association and the Association of Pickleball Professionals. Hall of Famer and former quarterback Drew Brees is a terrific pickleball player. Brees and future Hall member, seven-time Super Bowl Champ Tom Brady, are part owners of Major League Pickleball teams.
During a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview, Owens says, “Pickleball is not an addiction with me. I see it as a challenge. I’m learning the sport. I’m down with just the process of it.”
The 52-year-old Inglewood resident picked up a pickleball paddle for the first time in October 2024 at the Encino home of his friend, former NFL defensive end Marcellus Wiley. “I had no idea about how to play at that time. I was basically just trying to return the ball, get it back over the net.”
Right after his introduction to pickleball, Owens went to Target to buy a paddle.
He says he was at once fascinated and frustrated by the game’s strategy. “It’s all about ball placement. It’s like playing chess,” he says.
The frustration was mostly due to a rule many beginners have trouble adhering to. “I had to get used to letting the ball bounce before returning serves. That got on my nerves. The first month I had to get accustomed to that,” Owens says.
He says pickleball is more difficult than football in some ways because the next football play is largely predetermined in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage, while pickleball is more spontaneous.
Owens was analytical during his football career and remains that way while learning America’s fastest growing sport. He realizes that playing pickleball at a high level requires learning shot selection, which he calls the “3 D’s.: Drives, drops and dinks.
“In football, exploiting a team’s weakness involves film study,” Owens says. “In pickleball, you can see your opponents’ weaknesses right away. In rec play, most players’ backhand is weaker than their forehand. I have worked on my backhand more than anything because I don’t want that to be a weakness. Now, everybody says my backhand is better than my forehand. That’s how intuitive I am, that’s how my brain works,” he said.
Owens has a 3.389 doubles DUPR and knows he has a long way to go to reach his playing goals. He plays at least four days a week with a heavy emphasis on drilling, at PowerPlay Pickleball in Carson and at the Calabasas Pickleball Club. His instructor at the Calabasas facility, whom Owens credits especially for improving his backhand, is Gabe Joseph, one of the world’s best players. Joseph is the PPA’s 9th ranked singles player and the Calabasas club’s Director of Pickleball.
“His athletic gifts are immediately apparent on the pickleball court,” Joseph says of Owens. “He possesses tremendous potential and an exceptionally high ceiling.
“Without question, one of Terrell’s greatest strengths is his coachability. He absorbs information like a sponge and is constantly looking for ways to improve.”
Owens often plays mixed doubles with a woman he met at the Calabasas club named Brittani Carr. “Playing alongside Terrell in a tournament is not for the faint of heart,” Carr said. “He’s extremely intense. He’s more ‘relaxed’ after we get a few warmup games in.
“His biggest strengths as a player are his mentality around winning, his dedication to getting better and his hand speed. His trash talk is hilarious. Never mean spirited,” Carr said.
Owens is known to show up at local courts looking for a game. Asked whether players who recognize him are starstruck or intimated, he says, “A little bit of both.”
Owens says he is in pickleball for the long haul. “It’s not a fad with me. I want to be on the senior pro tour. I want to be able to play pro with some of the higher-level guys.”
Doubting Owens’ chances to achieve that goal may be unwise.
He was a four-sport star in high school in Alexander City, Alabama, excelling in basketball, baseball and track along with football.
He is an elite level athlete even in middle age, long into working out and eating healthy. He is still in shape 16 years after retiring from the NFL, lean and muscular at 6 feet, 3 inches tall and near his playing weight of 224 pounds. During his NFL career, teammates said Owens was one of the hardest working players they had ever seen.
Companies are aware of Owens name recognition and outsized personality and have signed him to endorsements. He has a signature paddle with CPX Pickleball and an apparel deal with Centerline Athletics. He is a partner with Celebrity Pickleball Bash, a sports entertainment company that pairs professional pickleball players with celebrities, so he plays matches with other sports stars and pro pickleball players. In November 2025, just over a year after first playing, Owens and the 2nd ranked women’s pro player, Anna Bright, defeated top-ranked Anna Leigh Waters and NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki in an exhibition match that drew a big crowd during the Pickleball World Championships in Dallas.
Owens presence excites spectators in part because he plays pickleball like he played football, with flair. He often plays to the crowd, waving them on to cheer louder after he makes a good shot.
During his NFL career Owens was a lightning rod, at times controversial, outspoken and colorful. His attention getting interviews and actions on the field turned off some teammates and fans. They either loved or hated his unique touchdown celebrations.
While playing for the San Francisco 49ers in 2000, Owens scored two touchdowns in a game against the Dallas Cowboys. After both TD’s, he ran to the 50-yard line and slammed the football down on the Cowboys iconic star logo. Following the 2nd slam, Dallas safety George Teague took exception and leveled Owens, sparking a big brawl. After another TD, “T.O.” took a Sharpie out of his sock, autographed the football and gave it to his financial advisor in the stands. Following another score, Owens grabbed popcorn from a fan and poured it through his face mask. And for yet another celebration Owens grabbed a cheerleader’s pom-poms and waved them while dancing with the cheerleaders.
Asked if he is planning similar celebrations on the pickleball court, Owens said, “Trust me, once I get more immersed and feel more comfortable, it’s coming.
“You best believe that.”
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
· Took a boys’ field trip this past week to Pittsburgh and it was a blast. Met up with my son Mike, who flew in from his Florida home, and my friend, Frank, who is the manager of The Picklr near Tucson where I play six days a week. Frank’s son-in-law is Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales. Nick gave us field passes so we were behind the cage for batting practice in beautiful PNC Park. Nick might be the most humble professional athlete out of thousands I have met and/or interviewed. My son played minor league baseball for eight seasons and Mike and Nick enjoyed talking ball.
Nick was told his whole life that at a skinny 5’9” he was too small to make the majors. He ignored the so-called experts and hit virtually every day. He had keys to his high school gym and hit before classes. His girlfriend and future wife, Frank’s daughter Rylee, would pitch to him. When it got dark, while other kids were at parties, Nick turned his car headlights on towards the field so he could hit some more.
Nick hit .543 in his senior year at Cienega High School in the Tucson suburb of Vail. But the hometown baseball powerhouse program at the University of Arizona, whiffed on him, did not recruit the local star. Nick went to New Mexico State and in 2020 was the National Collegiate Player of the Year (and an academic All-American).
The Pirates drafted him in the 1st round that year, 7th overall.
I asked Nick if the U of A not recruiting him upset him. “Nah,” he said. “It worked out okay.”
You think?
Nick is hitting .309, third in the National League. He proved height doesn’t matter in baseball. Heart does.
· A sprained right shoulder has sidelined me from pickleball for the past two weeks. This sucks. I am fighting crankiness by trying to get ahead with my writing, dinking against the garage wall for 10-15 minutes each day, reading a terrific book called Why We Love Baseball by Joe Posnanski, and joining my wife on her very early morning daily walks with our dog (starting at 5:30 due because it’s 90 degrees in Tucson by 8 a.m.). We are also almost done with all 92 episodes of the old series, Mad Men. It’s my third favorite dramatic series ever, after The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. I injured the shoulder while hitting an overhead smash. I felt it immediately. I saw a physical therapist and she put me through range of motion exercises and said the rotator cuff is definitely not torn because I didn’t have much pain when putting my hand over my head, among other things. But it hurts enough when I raise my arm to shoulder height that there’s no way I can play. I have an appointment with an orthopedist on August 18th. Hopefully I keep my sanity until then.
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