Co Founder and “CPO Chief Pickleball Officer”, the man who had the vision!
Harris is a Florida native, he grew up in Sarasota and lives on Siesta Key. He is very proud of his son who is a college athlete in The University of San Francisco and keeps strong family ties with his parents and brother who live close to him in Sarasota.
Growing up by the water made him fall in love with the lifestyle, sports and recreation it offers. He was a sponsored athlete, personal trainer and a boat captain, fishing expert as a teenager and he says – “I worked more for smiles than for money ” which is where his label of being a professional recreational specialist came from.
This was the catalyst that inspired his pursuit for creating healthy Lifestyle community based organizations that would encompass health – fitness – wealth and purpose!
Four decades later , Harris has founded several healthy lifestyle organizations which have grown to hundreds of thousands of members worldwide and billions in sales, receiving several recognitions, including the prestigious Servant Leader Award in 2012, which is the one that has the most meaning for him.
In 2019 Harris was introduced to Pickleball by a longtime friend Bill, who grew up in Seattle WA and started playing in 1974 with his neighbors who were friends with the founders of pickleball.
The first time Harris played was in Naples and he was blown away by the hundreds of people, all ages, playing under intense heat with such passion, camaraderie and having so much fun! After 2 hours of non stop play, he started to understand how addicting and social this game is and why the “OMG” saying “One More Game”.
That night he was invited to Bill’s birthday and the next thing that blew his mind was the number of new friends that showed up when his buddy had only been there for a couple of months! All friends Bill and his wife Lily had met playing pickleball.
Harris quickly joined a local pickleball group! The fun and social experience continues! It intrigued him that this sport with a funny name, that had been around since more than 50 years was just starting to really grow. That made him research more on this phenomenon. He wanted to know how to contribute to its growth, introduce and connect this healthy, socially inclusive, contagious pickleball lifestyle to more people and help them play pickleball better, longer, have more fun and meet more people!