Representative Joel McFee Pritchard

Joel McFee Pritchard (May 5, 1925 – October 9, 1997) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Washington State who served six terms as a Representative in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1985 and later as the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Washington. A prominent moderate Republican, he became the most recent member of his party to hold the lieutenant governorship as of 2024. Beyond his political career, he gained national recognition as the “Father of Pickleball” for co-inventing the sport in 1965, and he was posthumously inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Pritchard was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 5, 1925, the second son of Frank and Jean (McFee) Pritchard. He attended public schools in Seattle and graduated from Queen Anne High School in June 1944. Shortly after completing high school, he entered military service during World War II. From 1944 to 1946 he served in the United States Army, attaining the rank of sergeant. Following his discharge, he pursued higher education at Marietta College in Ohio from 1946 to 1947, before returning to Washington State to begin a career in business.

In the late 1940s, Pritchard joined the Griffin Envelope Company in Seattle, where he worked from 1948 to 1971. Over more than two decades with the firm, he rose through the ranks to become president of the company, establishing himself as a successful businessman before entering full-time public service. During this period, he also became active in Republican politics. He served as a delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention, which renominated President Dwight D. Eisenhower, marking his emergence as a figure in state and national party affairs.

Pritchard’s formal political career began in the Washington House of Representatives, where he was elected in 1958 to represent the state’s Thirty-sixth District. He served in the state house from 1959 to 1967, winning reelection in 1960, 1962, and 1964. In Olympia he worked closely with fellow Republicans Daniel J. Evans and Slade Gorton, both of whom would later serve in the United States Senate. In 1966, he was elected to the Washington State Senate and served a single term from 1967 to 1971. As a state senator, he emerged as a leading voice on social policy. In 1970, as a member of Washington Citizens for Abortion Reform, he introduced legislation permitting abortions within the first four months of pregnancy. The bill was approved by the legislature and submitted to the voters as Referendum 20, which passed statewide in November 1970, making Washington the first state in which abortion was legalized by popular vote.

While serving in the Washington State Senate, Pritchard also left a lasting mark on American recreation. In 1965, at his summer home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, he and friends Bill Bell and Barney McCallum devised a new paddle game to entertain their families, combining elements of badminton, table tennis, and tennis. They named the game pickleball, and over subsequent decades it grew into a widely played sport across the United States and internationally. For this contribution, Pritchard became widely known as the Father of Pickleball and was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Pritchard first sought federal office in 1970, when he ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington’s First Congressional District, challenging nine-term incumbent Thomas Pelly. Although Pelly was renominated, Pritchard’s strong showing narrowed the margin more than many observers had anticipated. When Pelly retired in 1972, Pritchard again sought the seat and was elected to the Ninety-third Congress after a closely contested general election, receiving 107,581 votes to Democrat John Hempleman’s 104,959 and Socialist Workers candidate Craig Honts’s 1,401. A member of the Republican Party, he contributed to the legislative process during six terms in office, representing his Seattle-area constituents in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1973, to January 3, 1985.

During his congressional career, Pritchard was repeatedly returned to office by substantial margins. He was reelected in 1974 with 108,391 votes to Democrat Will Knedlik’s 44,655; in 1976 with 161,354 votes to Democrat Dave Wood’s 58,006; in 1978 with 99,942 votes to Democrat Janice Niemi’s 52,706; in 1980 with 180,475 votes to Democrat Robin Drake’s 41,830; and in 1982 with 123,956 votes to Democrat Brian Long’s 59,444. Serving in Congress during a significant period in American history marked by the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate aftermath, economic challenges, and shifting party coalitions, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents as a moderate Republican voice. After six consecutive terms, he chose not to run for reelection in 1984, concluding his House service in 1985.

After leaving Congress, Pritchard returned to statewide office. In 1988, he successfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Washington, becoming president of the Washington State Senate and assuming a key role in overseeing legislative proceedings and succession to the governorship. In the 1988 general election, he received 960,655 votes to Democrat George Fleming’s 839,593. He was reelected in 1992 with 1,072,968 votes, defeating Democrat Richard Kelley, who received 862,063 votes, as well as independent candidate “Absolutely Nobody,” who received 148,021 votes, and Libertarian Tom Isenberg, who received 75,933 votes. Pritchard served as lieutenant governor from 1989 to 1997, and as of 2024 he remains the last Republican to have held that office in Washington.

Following the end of his second term as lieutenant governor, Pritchard retired from elective office but remained engaged in public affairs. He became a board member of TVW, Washington State’s public affairs television network, supporting efforts to provide citizens with direct access to legislative and governmental proceedings. Joel McFee Pritchard died of lymphoma on October 9, 1997, in Olympia, Washington.