TOLEDO – Time for a little amateur sports trivia.
What is officially the fastest-growing sport in the United States, with roughly 20-24 million active regular players and over 68,000 tracked courts nationwide? The answer is pickleball.
For those unfamiliar with pickleball, it can be played indoors or outdoors, and competitors use a racket/paddle to hit a hollow perforated ball over a 34-inch-high net. The sport, which resembles tennis and ping pong, was invented in 1965.
Mary Beth DeMatteo, 74, and her husband, Bob, 71, who lived in Waterville for 25 years and now reside in Chandler, Ariz., and Holland, Ohio, are certainly hooked. They play pickleball 3-5 times a week.
“It really is that one game where you hear so much laughing, even when you make a bad shot,” Bob said. “It has been an incredible integration of community. There is a camaraderie that goes along with pickleball. We were invited to go out to the court that was built in Holland. Mike Younker brought the game back from Florida and built the first two courts in Holland.
“It had a lot to do with being familiar with ping pong, and we played a lot of tennis,” Bob added. “At the ages we were approaching, it was a chance to get a good workout where you change directions, move your arms … What kept me [in the sport] were the great people who gathered to play pickleball.”
Mary Beth and Bob DeMatteo are currently organizing and promoting a local pickleball tournament, scheduled for Sept. 18-20 at Toledo Pickle Company, 1030 Water St. in downtown Toledo.
The event, called Pickle 4 Purple – Ohio, will serve as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association of Ohio.
“We live in a golf resort community in Arizona and a friend of ours, her mom had Alzheimer’s and decided to start a pickleball tournament,” Mary Beth said. “They had a Pickle 4 Purple tournament for eight years, so we decided we could do it [here] on a large scale.
“I was following the Toledo Pickle Company, but I decided if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it at this new indoor facility if we could afford to rent the facility. I cold-called the Toledo Pickle Company and told them what we were doing.
“The owner, Mike Gibbons, had just gotten back from Florida. I introduced myself and thanked him for the facility and told him about the Pickle 4 Purple tournament I wanted to hold. Mike said he would love to be on our leadership team. I don’t know if we could have had this tournament on this scale without him and his staff.”
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s. One person is diagnosed with the disease every 65 seconds.
Mary Beth and Bob’s son-in-law, Joe, was diagnosed “six or seven years ago,” Mary Beth said. Joe was married to the DeMatteo’s daughter, Becky, and they lived in Sylvania. Joe had one child, a daughter named Katie.
“Joe probably had [Alzheimer’s] symptoms before he was diagnosed,” Mary Beth said. “I remember the day [Joe and Becky] came over and they said, ‘We need to talk to you. We have some very bad news.’ Joe had been mentioning that he was forgetting his words, and he was a very intelligent man. Very accomplished.
“His sister also died of Alzheimer’s. It was very hard on Joe. He went to see his sister before she died and he said to my daughter, ‘Don’t let me get like this.’ He knew he had Alzheimer’s.”
Joe passed away of Alzheimer’s on March 16, 2026, at age 69. Last fall, Mary Beth and Bob DeMatteo relocated back to the Toledo area to help Becky with her daily needs and care for Joe.
“In November I realized it was getting worse for our daughter,” Mary Beth said. “She said we came home just in time. She was afraid to leave Joe at the [care] facility by himself. She would sleep at the facility, come home, let the dogs out, go to work, feed the dogs, change clothes and go back to the facility.
“We flew here in November and I never went back. Bob went back to Arizona to close up the house. We are going back after the Pickle 4 Purple event.”
Mary Beth said she and her husband came up with the idea to hold a pickleball tournament fundraiser “long before Joe died.”
“He was still able to talk, and we said we were going to have a tournament to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association,” Mary Beth said. “He just said, ‘You are amazing!’
“I told him, ‘Joe, we can’t cure you, but maybe we can make a difference for somebody else.’ It has been such a journey.”
The tournament will feature all-doubles teams competing in men’s, women’s, and mixed events. The tourney kicks off at 3 p.m. on Sept. 18.
Visit stopalzheimersllc.com to register to compete in the tournament or make a donation. More than $70,000 has been raised so far with the help of 34 sponsors, but the DeMatteos said their goal is $100,000.
“Mary Beth and I have been blown away by the actual generosity and graciousness of our sponsors,” Bob said. “They have been absolutely amazing. Any net proceeds from the tournament – after all the bills are paid – will go to Alzheimer’s, and we will have some raffles and T-shirts designed by [local artist] Dean Davis.”
Mary Beth added, “We are not trying to take anything away from the Alzheimer’s Walk in Toledo. This is just something different and extra. Something new. We are excited.”
