JP Morgan says pickleball is ping-pong on steroids. That’s Sun City’s JP Morgan, not the 19th century tycoon.
He has played tennis and ping pong most of his life, and in the last decade has used those skills to become adept at pickleball. Earlier this summer at the six-county senior Olympic competition, he proved it. He won a gold medal and two silvers in pickleball and tennis doubles competition at Hoffman Estates and Maine East High Schools. He is the latest in a growing number of Sun City senior athletes that have excelled in area senior competition.
Sun City resident JP Morgan offers up a serve at Tall Oaks during a friendly game of pickleball. (Photos by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
Making his experience even more special was the fact that his gold medal in tennis mixed doubles was achieved while playing with a woman he had only met that day. He won his silver medals with long time partners with whom he plays regularly in and around Sun City and Huntley. JP playedfor the first time with Norma Budzinski in mixed tennis doubles for the gold, and played with long-time area partners Wayne Tripplet in men ‘s tennis doubles, and Laura Ferris in mixed pickleball doubles.
He became so skilled so quickly that he began participating in senior Olympic meets only two years after he began playing pickleball.
“I won a bronze (third place) medal in mixed doubles in 2013, a silver last year, and a gold this year, so it’s been fun to grow in the sport,” he said.
While he maintains his talent and health with a challenging regimen of fitness, exercise, and athletic practice, he also acknowledges the reality of advancing age.
“I’m too old for the pace of singles competition in tennis and pickleball, but I can still do pretty well in doubles,” he said.
By the way, his full name is John Pierpont Morgan, so naturally, at an early age, he chose the first two initials and became known as JP Morgan, the same name made famous by the 19th century financier and tycoon. The Morgan name remains alive today in the Wall Street banking world.
“I enjoyed tossing the name around when I was a kid,” he said. “When I got into a sales career, it opened doors for me when I simply said with a straight face that I was JP Morgan. I now go by JP; if you call me John, some of my friends may not be sure you’re talking about me.”
“I grew up on ping pong and tennis,” he said. “It gave me a definite advantage when I started playing pickleball at the time my wife Cheryl and I came to Sun City in 2006,” he said. “I work out in the gym three times a week. Regular practice at tennis and pickleball has turned out to be a great way to socialize with new and old friends and stay in top physical shape.” He played pickleball initially at the Huntley Park District facilities outside Sun City. Later, he played a significant role in persuading Sun City’s Tall Oaks Tennis Club to create pickleballcourts at their tennis center, starting in 2010.
But JP’s story isn’t just about three medals and a familiar name. He grew up in Logansport, Indiana, and played tennis and ran cross-country in high school there. He attended St. Paul Bible College in Minnesota where he met Cheryl and they got married. She also worked at Macalester College in St. Paul and later got a job at a Schwinn bicycle shop in the St. Paul area.
“She got me a job there and the rest is history for my career,” Morgan said. “I spent the next 40 years in the bicycle sales and sales management business.
So how does his sport work?
“Pickleball is played on a court half the size of tennis courts,” he said. The sport uses s whiffle ball and plastic or rubber paddles that are about twice the size of ping pong paddles.
“Pickleball was developed in the 1960s as a game for kids and young people, and today it is one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation, especially in senior communities. We have more than 150 members in our club here, and we welcomed about 50 new members just this past year.” The sport is sanctioned and promoted nationally by the USA Pickleball Association, and the Sun City club conducts a singles and doubles tournament every September among its members. Morgan has become an ambassador for Pickleball in the Sun City and northern Illinois area.
There is still another chapter in Morgan’s life, one he is doing along with Cheryl. As an expression of their compassion and faith, they are volunteer home missionaries for Awana, a youth education program operated by evangelical churches.
“We have responsibility for promoting Awana programs among 131 churches in the Chicago area, and my goal is to establish Awana programs in all of them,” JP said. Awana is a program for children and young people that combines Bible memory and study with athletic competition and recreation.
So that’s JP: retired bicycle salesmen and executive, skilled tennis/pickleball/ping pong player, disciplined fitness buff, and compassionate religious educator. He’s also pretty good at inventing ways to have fun introducing himself.
A renaissance man? Pretty close.
