Last week, on July 25 and 26, members of the Alameda Pickleball community celebrated the 92nd birthday of one of their most beloved players, Ed Wong. Celebrants enjoyed a cake, a potluck, and a ukulele group composed of Alameda pickleball players.
Wong plays at Lincoln Park at least four times a week, according to a club announcement issued on July 31. He has only been playing pickleball for a year, but before he did he researched the game strategy and rules by looking it up on the internet, the announcement stated.
Conversations with Wong and information posted on his family website indicate that the nonagenarian has led what a fellow pickleballer called “an interesting life.” He was born in New York City, but left the United States when he was just one year old and spent most of his formative years in Southeast Asia, traveling with his parents, who were in show business. His education was interrupted by World War II, when the boarding schools he would have attended closed. It was not until after the war, when he was a teenager, that he started his formal education.
Wong returned to the United States in 1950 to start his sophomore year of high school, was drafted into military service in 1952, and served in Korea. He was honorably discharged from the Army, passed his GED, attended City College of San Francisco, and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1959. In 1960 he began his career with the Naval Air Rework Facility in Alameda.
In 1963 decided to purchase a home in Alameda to be closer to his work, but was unable to do so due to anti-Asian discrimination, because he was Chinese. He finally was able to purchase a home from the Towata family, of John S. Towata Flowers here in Alameda.
Alameda Pickleball is not a formal group, but does have more than 800 Alameda residents in several informal groups, according to the announcement. A self-stated “friendly group that is accepting and inclusive of all,” they play at Lincoln Park, which has four aging courts that are open from 8 a.m. until dusk, and at Leydecker Park, which has courts that are striped as one tennis court or four pickleball courts. For residents interested in learning more about pickleball, Alameda Recreation and Park Department offers beginner lessons. Also, all are welcome to drop by Lincoln Park during play hours and speak to almost anyone.
