Connor Pardoe

Connor Pardoe is the founder and CEO of the PPA Tour, the organization that unified professional pickleball under one banner. Growing up in Sandy, Utah, Pardoe was a competitive basketball player before discovering pickleball in 2018 through his aunt. After playing in his first tournament at the 35-level mixed division with his dad, he became hooked on the sport and began attending events across the country. A pivotal moment came at a tournament in Atlanta, where he watched 400 players compete and saw a 12-year-old Anna Leigh Waters play for the first time, later telling his dad he had more fun watching that match than he'd ever had at the US Open.

At just 23 years old, while working in real estate development, Pardoe sketched out plans for a professional tour on a napkin and began cold-messaging top players on Instagram, offering $10,000 appearance fees to compete. Ben Johns, Matt Wright, Lucy Kovalova, and Irina Tereschenko were among the first to sign on. His inaugural event in Mesa, Arizona, featured $100,000 in prize money and drew 650 amateur players. Pardoe served a two-year LDS mission in Australia before launching his pickleball career and has built the tour alongside his high school best friend Connor Ogden and his brother Braxton. He and his wife Carly are parents to two sets of twins.