‘Great way to say thank you’: Evansville companies donate pickleball equipment to fire department
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Evansville-based Escalade Sports and Evansville Garage Doors recently presented $12,500 worth of ONIX pickleball equipment to the city’s fire department to thank crews for containing two warehouse fires last year.
Pickleball is often described as a mashup of tennis, ping-pong and badminton. Emily Patton, brand manager at Escalade Sports, and Brock Lance, vice president of sales and business development at Evansville Garage Doors, told Inside INdiana Business the gift was well received. “They were super appreciative, very gracious and excited,” Patton said. “They had that little kid mentality, like new toys!” added Lance.
In 2022, both businesses watched firefighters battle massive flames at neighboring buildings. Evansville Garage Doors is located near the Morton Avenue warehouse that burned in October.
“That day, it was extremely windy, and it was blowing in, unfortunately, our direction,” Lance said.
Escalade Sports is close to the Garvin Street warehouse that went up in flames in December. “We were very scared about what was potentially going to happen,” Patton said.
The businesses donated 70 paddles, 14 nets and 14 packs of balls to be distributed among the 14 fire stations. Evansville Fire Department spokesman Mike Larson told Inside INdiana Business it was a heartwarming gesture. “For those businesses to come back this long of a time later and still remember the work that the firefighters did is very touching,” he said.
Battling the warehouse fires
After the warehouse fire broke out on Morton Avenue in the early morning of Oct. 17, Evansville Garage Doors gave crews access to its property to help battle and contain the flames. “The fire trucks pulled up to our back lot, clipped the locks and just went to town,” Lance said. “They were throwing hoses. They were positioning the aerial trucks to try and disperse as much water as possible.”
Larson, who was on the way to work when the call came in, arrived early on the scene. He told the Evansville Garage Doors team to prepare for the worst. “I told them, you can go in there and start getting some of your equipment out right now, but if I tell you’re done, I don’t want any arguments, because I didn’t know where it was going to stop,” he said. After the fire was contained, the business had to replace its roof but didn’t sustain any other damage.
The Garvin Street warehouse fire began late on New Year’s Eve night. “Escalade Sports was right across the railroad tracks on the north side of that facility. So they got to watch it firsthand,” Larson said.
The business also cooperated with firefighters to control the flames. “They opened a gate on the south side of their property, which allowed us to gain better access to the backside of that structure,” Larson said. Escalade Sports suffered no damage.
‘How can we give back?’
For a family-owned business like Evansville Garage Doors, the threat of a fire destroying the property generated many emotions. Lance has spent 15 years at the company and knows the Rothschild family that has owned the company for 70 years. “That’s home for a lot of us,” Lance said.
The current president, Jeff Rothschild, grew up at Evansville Garage Doors and learned to drive in the parking lot. “It was just so gut-wrenching to him, thinking about what could have happened and what those guys did for our company,” Lance said.
Jeff Rothschild’s great-grandfather was also a firefighter. “Firefighters have always been near and dear to their hearts, and the appreciation just got that much stronger and bigger within our company after everything that happened with the fire,” Lance said.
So when Lance passed by the fire station near Oak Hill Cemetery one day and saw a group of firefighters playing pickleball, he got an idea. “How can we give back? Because this is after the fact, so many months after the fire, how can we do something? This is cool. This could be some kind of community outreach,” he said.
Lance’s next move was approaching Escalade Sports about teaming up to give the sporting goods to the fire department. “We were all for it, super excited about it, thought it was wonderful,” Patton said. “We started pulling the inventory and arranged a date to make the donation.”
Overwhelming community support
After dealing with several significant events over the past 12 months, the Evansville Fire Department appreciates the community’s praise. “The major house explosion on Weinbach Avenue, the two large warehouse fires and most recently the Pearl Laundry fire, a pretty good size industrial building downtown,” said Larson. “All the people in our area have been overwhelmingly supportive of our firefighters and what they do.”
When the firefighters received the pickleball equipment, the businesses knew the gift was a good choice. “When Escalade Sports put all the paddles down and some of the balls, you could tell there were quite a few players at that station,” Lance said. “They all started picking them up and hitting them on their hand, feeling them out, bouncing the balls off of them.”
“I have all this pickleball knowledge, so they were asking me, looking at each paddle, they wanted to know the specs, they wanted to know the tech behind it,” added Patton. “It was just really cool to be able to explain that to them and them being so interested and intrigued by the small differences that each paddle can offer.”
Larson said pickleball is a great way for firefighters to spend time when they’re not answering calls. “You can play as easy or as hard as you want, and it gets them outside on nice days, a little bit of physical fitness,” he said. “Plus, firefighters can be a little bit competitive, so we kind of have fun with that, too.”
That competitiveness will heat up in November when the firefighters’ annual tournament is held on Escalade Sports’ indoor pickleball courts for the third year. “They create their own brackets. Each player pays to play. And then the proceeds go to the winner of the tournament,” Patton said.
‘It’s like a fever that just keeps spreading’
The Evansville firefighters are part of a pickleball craze that includes millions nationwide. According to the Association of Pickleball Professionals, 36.5 million people played pickleball at least once from August 2021 to August 2022, while 8.5 million played pickleball eight times or more in that period. There are even professional players who compete in leagues such as Major League Pickleball. “It’s like a fever that just keeps spreading,” Patton said.
Patton noticed the surge of pickleball popularity in Evansville last fall during Escalade Sports’ warehouse sale on various sporting goods equipment. “Everybody flocked to the pickleball stuff, and it was the first thing gone. Everybody wants it, and it’s insane right now,” she said. “All you have to do is try pickleball once, and you’re going to be hooked.”
Pickleball fans can play at various facilities in Evansville—such as the YMCA and the C.K. Newsome Center—but there’s a growing need for more courts. “If you’re trying to play at a public court, you’ll often find them packed. The courts are packed themselves, like everybody’s playing, but then you’ll see a group on the side waiting their turn to get on, too,” said Patton.
Additional pickleball courts are coming to the region. In June, the Vanderburgh County Council approved funding to build pickleball courts at Wesselman Park. On Aug. 21, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to construct pickleball courts at Burdette Park. At the end of the month, Rivertown Pickleball of Southern Indiana Inc. will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pickleball complex at Vann Road Park in Newburgh.
“There’s so much demand for places to play, and there’s just not enough courts yet,” Patton said.” I think more of what’s happening at these local parks, revitalizing them, will continue.”
Pickleball is popular because it’s a social sport that’s easy to play and appeals to every age group. Patton and her husband play against her parents on the court every weekend. “The amazing thing is that I’m in my 30s, but my parents are in their 60s and 70s, and they beat us every time,” she said. “When we do win, it’s such an accomplishment for us.”
“Since Escalade Sports acquired ONIX in 2015, it’s been our mission to just grow this sport and spread the love of it to everyone,” Patton added. “It’s so exciting to finally see that come to fruition like it has now.”