The Pickleball Hall of Fame Shame

By Matthew Schwartz

January 13, 2024

 

Richard Movsessian, known to thousands of pickleball players as “Coach Mo”, should be in the Pickleball Hall of Fame

-

He is better known as “Coach Mo. He is 83-years-old and has taught pickleball in 20 states over the last 20 years to thousands of players.

Mo could charge $100 an hour and make some good coin. He has never charged a penny for his clinics or lessons except to cover expenses when he had to travel. Twenty years of thousands of free lessons. Do the math. If he was one of those instructors who cares more about money than helping players he’d have made quite a bit. He conducted a free weekly clinic in his neighborhood in The Villages, Florida, from 2005 through 2024. He still gives free lessons anytime to anyone who asks. For many years in the winter he conducted a free weekly indoor seminar.

 “I really enjoy seeing people get better,” Coach Mo tells me during my two-day visit to his Florida home last week. “I just really enjoy teaching people the game,” he says in his strong Boston accent. His enjoyment was obvious during the 12 hours he spent teaching me over two days of mostly drilling. Great coaches simplify things and use certain phrases you’ll remember. You can read Mo’s favorite phrases and pickleball tips in the profile I wrote in August.

 

 Coach Mo gave me invaluable lessons over two days.

-

We also partnered for a few games and he’s still a terrific player, even though he acknowledges he could lose a few pounds. He ran from the non-volley zone line to the baseline several times to reach lobs. He returned them with a one-handed backhand drop shot that landed perfectly in our opponents' kitchen.

While we are talking pickleball over bagels at Panera Bread in The Villages last Tuesday, the woman at the adjacent table recognizes Mo (it seems everyone in The Villages knows him). She asks him for a lesson and they exchange phone numbers to schedule one. Of course, he won’t charge her. When Mo and I are at the neighborhood pickleball courts, players approach and hug him. They’re current or former students. I repeatedly hear players tell him, “You helped my game so much.”

“I never dreamed of making money from it,” Mo says. He never made much money from teaching physical education, which he did at a suburban Boston high school for 29 years. So he hustled and coached high school tennis, girls field hockey, and boys ice hockey. He also coached  a Junior League hockey team, which is high level amateur play. During hockey season after teaching five phys ed classes Mo would have a practice or game for his high school team, then do the same for his Juniors team. He would leave his house at 7 a.m. and come home at 10 p.m. There were countless times he drove in New England snowstorms in the dark.

 

Coach Mo and Jeanne have been married for 58 years

-

Ice hockey was his first love before he met his wife Jeanne. They’ve been married for 58 years. He’s fond of saying, “Behind every good man is a great woman.” Jeanne treats me like family (they have a son and a daughter) during my visit.

Mo was a defenseman at powerhouse Boston University and became such a respected high school hockey coach that in 1979 USA Hockey asked him to help Men’s Olympic team head coach Herb Brooks during tryouts. That was the group of college kids that went on to shock the Russians en route to winning the gold medal in 1980, the outcome known as “The Miracle on Ice.”

 In 2010 Mo and his 42-year-old partner (then the top-ranked player Phil Bagley) played in the USAPA Nationals in Arizona. They were in the 35 and over division. There were 31 other teams. Mo played against guys half his age. “They saw me as the guy to hit to,” he says. “I kept every ball to their toes. I hit high percentage shots, 80 percent down the middle to their backhand, and I made very few unforced errors.”

Mo’s team took home silver.

 At his free pickleball clinics years ago, Mo gave away thousands of copies of a 15-page instructional pamphlet he wrote before his students urged him to expand on it. So he wrote two books, “Simplified Pickleball” and “How to Play Pickleball” (with Joe Baker). I have read a half-dozen pickleball instructional books and none is better than “Simplified Pickleball.”

Considering the Hall of Fame’s aforementioned criteria about impacting the sport on a national level, you might think Mo would be in the Hall for teaching the sport to tens of thousands of players and through his books. He was nominated in 2018 but not voted in by the selection committee.

When I asked him about not being a member, I can see hurt on his face before he says, “I’d love to be in the Hall of Fame, obviously. But I don’t want to push for it.” He never brought the subject up, I did.

Matty Klein also lives in The Villages and is a former student of Coach Mo. Klein, 65, is a 4.8 rated player and instructor and teaches many things he learned from Mo. He thinks it’s a travesty that Mo isn’t in the hall. “Mo has given so much to the sport,” Klein says.

Jim Wright, like Coach Mo, is 83-years-old and also lives in the area. Wright was a great player who won many medals. He says Mo not being in the hall, “Makes no sense at all. He teaches lessons for free and he changes peoples lives in the process. You’re not going to find anyone who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more.”

Steve Paranto was inducted in 2019 into the Hall’s Contributor category and deservedly so. He and his father developed the first lightweight composite paddles, among other achievements. Regarding Coach Mo not being in the Hall, Steve says, “He certainly could be. He hasn’t been very involved at the national level for quite a few years so many of today’s players don’t know him.”

I sent an email to the Hall of Fame asking why Mo is not a member. The reply from Stu Upson, the Hall’s President and a Board member:

“It is our policy not to comment on the reasons for selecting or not selecting any particular individual who has been nominated. We receive dozens of nominations each year, and it is a difficult process for both our Nominating and Selection Committees who go through a very careful evaluation to determine who moves through the process and eventually become selected for the limited number of spots available in an induction class. Those committee discussions are confidential so that a full and frank discussion can be held about each applicant.

“There are many nominees who have made significant contributions to the sport but for various reasons do not match up to the others who were selected, and our committee members are not in a position to share any of that information with people outside of the committee.”

The Hall inducts up to three players and up to one contributor each year. If you think Coach Mo deserves to be in the Hall as a contributor, here is the link to the nominating form:  https://pickleballhalloffame.com/nominating-form/

Again, Mo is 83. If he gets in the Hall, it would be nice if he’s around to see it. If not, it would be a major omission by the selection committee.

  It would be a damn shame.

 

Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball

· Rest in piece Jimmy Carter. Regardless of what you might think of his presidency or politics, there’s no denying that the former Georgia peanut farmer, who died a week ago Sunday at 100, led a life of integrity. After his single term as president, Carter devoted the rest of his life to bettering the lives of countless people through diplomatic and humanitarian work across the US and around the world. He and Roslyn, his wife of 77 years, built affordable houses with Habitat for Humanity since 1984. I interviewed them in The Bronx, New York, in the late 80’s, when I was a TV reporter. They were building a house and did the interview in between digging, shovels in hand. It was no photo op, they did that countless times with no cameras present. They could not have been kinder or more down to earth.

· New pickleball players who ask on Facebook for paddle recommendations would do better to try as many paddles as they can from friends or companies that have demo programs. Most pickleball players on Facebook tend to recommend the paddles they’re an ambassador for and thus get a commission when their discount code is used at checkout. And many players tend to recommend the paddle they use without considering how the person seeking advice plays and at what level they play.

 

· Why do so many people seek medical advice online for serious ailments from total strangers with no medical background instead of their own doctor?

 

· It’s amazing how many times I see pickleball players do no stretching before playing. It’s a fast and easy way to pull a muscle or worse.

 

· The new series on FOX called Doc looks terrific based on the first episode that aired Tuesday night.

 

· Saturday night’s NFL playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens was only on Amazon Prime Video. If you don’t subscribe you were of luck if you prefer watching at home. Get used to it. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said many times that streaming games will be increased in the future. As I’ve written before, it’s just another example of the mega-rich NFL’s greed.

 

 

 

Hudef gives away a new paddle to the first person who emails its sales department the correct answer to one question at the end of my first blog of every month. The question in last week’s column was: “In my November 27^th blog, I wrote that several popular paddle reviewers say unless you’re a high level player, you need not spend more than a certain price for a paddle. What is that price?”

 

The answer: $150.

 

Kolby Sonnevelt-Bixler of Mobile, AL, was the first person to email the correct answer. Way to go, Kolby! Kolby won the Hudef Viva Pro Gen 3 paddle, which sells for $169.99, but only $119.99 using my discount code of MS30. We hope you love the Viva Pro Gen 3, Kolby, as much as so many players and reviewers do.