TAMPA, Fla. — A tree stump grinding accident cost Buddy Hall his leg in 1998.
25 years later, when you see the way he moves on the pickleball court, you wouldn’t even know that he is a below-the-knee amputee.
He plays at Julien B. Lane Park nearly every day of the week—sometimes twice a day.
“I am always learning something,” Hall said. “The better players are always teaching me. It never gets old. Plus, you get to meet a lot of people. It’s real friendly. That’s the biggest part.”
The stop-and-start action puts a lot of stress on his carbon fiber foot.
“I go through feet every 6-10 months,” he said. “They are guaranteed for three years.”
Also guaranteed, Hall will make you work for every point.
“His paddle is always in the right place,” pickleball player Kevin Washington said. “When you’re his partner, it’s great. When you are not, it’s bad. If you can get it by him, you can get it by most people out there.”
After his accident, Hall was determined that nothing will bring him down.
“I ended up making my own leg. I didn’t have any insurance at the time,” Hall said. "I made a PVC leg and cut a furniture leg, and made like a pirate leg. I stuck my stump in there.”
When he was able to get a proper prosthetic, he began playing softball and tennis. He thought pickleball—a combination of ping pong, tennis and badminton—sounded kind of silly.
“For five years, one of the guys I play tennis with was trying to get me to play pickleball,” he said. “Typical male ego, ‘I ain’t playing that game. It looks too stupid.’ I played, and I got hooked. I got with some of the young kids that play real fast. It’s ridiculous now. I am addicted to it now. I have been for a long time. It’s been fun.”
And for others that might feel down on their luck, Hall has some advice.
“Just the way things happened, meeting the guys at the tennis court, and they took me under their wing,” Hall said. “It gave me some courage and hope. Whatever I can do to say, hopefully, they can find somebody, ‘Hey, man, you can do it.’"
