August 29, 2026
Richard Movsessian is a true pickleball ambassador, a lifelong teacher and coach. He has been a beloved mentor to thousands of high school student-athletes and pickleball players. Better known as “Coach Mo,” he’s 85 and for some reason not in the Pickleball Hall of Fame. Yes, there really is a hall of fame for pickleball.
This is a hall of fame shame.
Coach Mo has devoted the last 25 years of his life to teaching pickleball. He has conducted thousands of clinics in 23 states, 22 countries and on cruise ships. He has taught countless lessons to anyone who has asked.
For free.
Coach Mo has never charged a fee for his clinics or lessons. He has asked only to have travel expenses covered. He could have made a lot of money.
“I just enjoy teaching,” he told me from his home in The Villages, Florida. “I really enjoy seeing people improve.”
Coach Mo has produced instructional videos (some are on YouTube) and written two bestselling books. Simplified Pickleball is the best book on the sport of the many I have read. A high-ranking pickleball official in the Canadian province of Quebec liked it so much he wanted an edition printed in French. Mo also wrote How to Play Pickleball (with Joe Baker). He often gives away copies of his books.
Coach Mo was named in 2015 as one of America’s three best pickleball instructors on The Pickleball Show with Chris Allen, which was the #1 pickleball podcast in the world at the time.
The Pickleball Hall of Fame has no building or museum, just a website and an annual banquet and induction ceremony. Members get a plaque, a ring, a jacket, and are profiled on the group’s website.
Unless Coach Mo is inducted, I cannot take the Hall seriously.
That’s why I won’t be attending the induction ceremony in November even though it will be held not far from my Arizona home. It would be advantageous for me to attend. As a writer of this weekly column and also for Pickleball Magazine, I could make more contacts and get some stories. But attending would be hypocritical.
This is not to disparage any of the Hall’s 41 members. I have read every one of their bios and all are deserving of the honor. I have written profiles about two Hall of Famers: its founder, Seymour Rifkind, and Steve Paranto. I admire both men and their accomplishments. Paranto not only won a ton of tournaments and is a popular, top tier instructor, he helped his father, Arlen, (also a Hall of Fame member) invent the composite pickleball paddle. Rifkin founded the Hall of Fame in 2017 after a stellar playing career. He has been working tirelessly on getting pickleball designated as an Olympic sport.
However, I am wondering why the seven people on the selection committee haven’t voted Coach Mo in (nominees need yes votes from75%). Before candidates can get considered by the selection committee, they have to be chosen by the nine-member nominating committee. I know that many people, myself included, have nominated Mo. We don’t know how each selector voted because ballots are secretly tabulated. The Hall’s rules allow for up to two inductees in the Contributors category every year. So that means since 2017, the voters haven’t found Coach Mo as worthy of induction as those voted in.
I find that hard to believe.
These are the criteria for induction in the Contributors category, straight from the Hall’s website:
“To be considered Hall of Fame worthy, a candidate should have impacted the sport of pickleball on the national or international level for at least 8 years. Individuals who may have worked tirelessly in a local region to help grow the sport or get new courts built, while invaluable to that area and our sport, are not considered Hall of Fame worthy contributors.”
The key words there are, “a candidate should have impacted the sport of pickleball on the national or international level for at least 8 years.
Do you think Coach Mo has impacted the sport of pickleball on either level for at least that long?
He teaches pickleball away from the spotlight. His base for the past two decades has been a 55-and-over community in Central Florida. His students are now mostly beginners and intermediate players. For years, snowbirds loved his lessons in The Villages so much they would fly him up north to take lessons near their summer homes.
Before moving to Florida and discovering pickleball, Coach Mo taught phys ed for 30 years in a suburban Boston high school. He coached several varsity and junior varsity teams, including boys' tennis and ice hockey and girls field hockey. He was inducted into the school’s hall of fame last year.
Mo was such a highly regarded hockey coach that in 1979, USA Men’s Olympic Hockey team coach Herb Brooks invited him to Lake Placid, New York, as one of 12 coaches to help Brooks pick the squad. That of course was the team that shocked the Soviet Union en route to winning the gold medal, known as “The Miracle on Ice.”
Mo made himself into a terrific pickleball player. In 2010, at the USAPA Nationals in Buckeye, Arizona, he played in the 35+ mens doubles division. He was 70 at the time. Opponents half his age said to each other, “Let’s target the guy with grey hair.” They did that.
However, Coach Mo dinked them to death. Out of 32 teams, the only one with a senior citizen took home a medal with a color like his hair: silver.
Regarding Coach Mo’s omission from the Hall of Fame, I reached out to its interim president, Melissa McCurley. She replied:
“Nominations are an important part of the process, but the number of nominations a candidate receives does not, by itself, determine induction. Each nominee is considered through the Hall’s established process and evaluated according to the criteria for the appropriate Hall of Fame category.
“Coach Mo has made a significant and longstanding contribution to pickleball through his teaching and his efforts to grow the sport, including the many clinics he has conducted over the years. We appreciate everyone who takes the time to nominate individuals who they believe have made a meaningful impact on pickleball.
“The Hall’s goal is to ensure that every candidate receives thoughtful consideration through a consistent and transparent process. Being nominated is an important recognition in itself, and candidates may be considered through the process as the Hall continues to recognize the many people who have helped shape and advance our sport.”
It’s too late for Coach Mo to be inducted this year. Hopefully, people who think he should be in the Hall will nominate him so he can be inducted next year. The link to the form is here. If you care about fairness, whether you love pickleball or not, you will spend 10 minutes and fill out the nominating form. It’s only one page.
It will mean nothing if you agree that Coach Mo should be in the Hall but don’t nominate him.
The form will ask you for Coach Mo’s date of birth, which is June 4, 1941, and place of birth, Boston, Massachusetts. You will need his address, which is 2212 High Point Drive, The Villages, Florida, 32162. You need to put in his phone number: 978-855-5043. You will have to write at least 300 words about why he should be inducted. You can re-word what I have written here if you are not familiar with Coach Mo.
I first heard of Coach Mo in a couple of years ago from Erne Perry, the legendary player who is credited with creating the “Erne” shot. I then wrote a profile about Mo and he later invited me to visit him and stay in his home, where he lives with Jeanne, his wife of 59 years. He also gave me a couple of lessons. The guy is a pickleball genius. He has the knack that all great coaches do, that Vince Lombardi and John Wooden were famous for: He breaks down everything to explain it in the least complicated way.
Coach Mo wants it known that he is not campaigning for induction. He never mentioned it during all our conversations unless I brought it up. When I first asked him about it during our visit in Florida, he did say, “It would be a real honor to be selected to the Hall of Fame.”
When he said that, tears were in his eyes.
I hope the Hall voters show some heart and do what is right while Coach Mo is still around to enjoy the honor. The deadline for nominations for this year was in July. It’s not too late to nominate him for next year’s induction.
Hopefully, next year won’t be too late for Coach Mo to be around to enjoy it.
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
· Dolly Parton was so much more than a country music superstar. Parton, who died of cancer on Tuesday at 80, was the quintessential rags to riches story. She was one of 12 children who grew up in a one-room cabin in East Tennessee without plumbing, heat and electricity. The family was so poor that her father, a tenant farmer, had to pay the doctor who attended her birth with a sack of cornmeal. She became a terrific actor and was a savvy businesswoman. She was the top-ranking female singer on country radio from 1967 to 1993, and had a total of 25 No.1 country singles. She published about 3.000 songs. She gave millions of dollars to charities and over 300 million books to children worldwide. That was especially important to her because her father was illiterate. She leaves an incredible, indelible legacy. Dolly Parton was a true American original.
· I find it annoying at rec play when the next four up take the court and the two best players by far team up. Unless they are practicing for a tournament, why not split up when everyone knows the game will be a rout? Do the better players think they will make any improvement winning easily? Are they proud of themselves for winning 11-1?
· The series Chimp Crazy on HBO Max is like a bad car wreck. You want to turn away but can’t help looking.
· I went up for an overhead shot a month ago and felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Turns out I have a rotator cuff impingement. I was given the first cortisone shot of my life and took almost a month off other than some dinking against the garage wall. The shoulder is fine now but instead of playing six days a week I’ll play five for a while. Bummer.
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