T.O. Is All IN
- Matthew Schwartz
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Legendary wide receiver Terrell Owens brings NFL fire to the pickleball court.
The excitement in his voice is palpable and booms through the phone because he is minutes away from doing his favorite thing.
“I’m driving to play pickleball right now,” Terrell Owens says from his car in Southern California.
Yes, that Terrell Owens.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer who caught 1,078 passes in his 15-year career has caught the pickleball bug.
Known as “T.O.” to his fans, Owens is widely regarded as one of the top five receivers in NFL history. He played from 1996 through 2010 for five teams and is in the top 10 in every major receiving category, ranking third all-time among receivers with 153 touchdowns. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection, five times All-Pro, named to the 2000s All-Decade team and enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2018.
Owens is part of a growing group of former NFL players who play pickleball regularly, including Nick Foles, Larry Fitzgerald, Golden Tate and Rodney Adams. Former Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Ryan Finley is a touring pro with the Professional Pickleball Association and the Association of Pickleball Professionals (his Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating [DUPR] is just under 6.0 in singles and doubles). Hall of Famer and former quarterback Drew Brees is a terrific pickleball player as well.
Brees along with future Hall member and seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady are even part owners of Major League Pickleball teams.
During a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview with Pickleball Magazine, Owens said, “Pickleball is not an addiction with me—I see it as a challenge. I’m learning the sport. I’m down with just the process of it.”
The 52-year-old Inglewood, California, resident picked up a pickleball paddle for the first time in October 2024 at the Encino home of his friend, former NFL defensive end Marcellus Wiley.
“I had no idea about how to play at that time. I was basically just trying to return the ball, get it back over the net.”
Right after that introduction, Owens went to Target to buy a paddle.
He says he was at once fascinated and frustrated by the game’s strategy. “It’s all about ball placement. It’s like playing chess.”
The frustration was mostly due to a rule that many beginners have trouble adhering to: “I had to get used to letting the ball bounce before returning serves. That got on my nerves. The first month I had to get accustomed to that.”
Owens feels that pickleball is more difficult than football in some ways because in football, the next play is largely predetermined in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage, while pickleball is more spontaneous.
Owens was analytical during his football career and remains that way while learning America’s fastest-growing sport. He realizes that playing pickleball at a high level requires learning shot selection, which he calls the “3 Ds”: drives, drops and dinks.
“In football, exploiting a team’s weakness involves film study,” Owens says. “In pickleball, you can see your opponents’ weaknesses right away. In rec play, most players’ backhand is weaker than their forehand. I have worked on my backhand more than anything because I don’t want that to be a weakness. Now everybody says my backhand is better than my forehand. That’s how intuitive I am—that’s how my brain works.”
Owens has a 3.389 doubles DUPR and knows he has a long way to go to reach his playing goals. He plays at least four days a week, with a heavy emphasis on drilling, at PowerPlay Pickleball in Carson and at the Calabasas Pickleball Club. His instructor at Calabasas—who Owens credits especially for improving his backhand—is Gabe Joseph, one of the world’s best players.
Joseph is the PPA’s 9th-ranked singles player and the Calabasas club’s director of pickleball.
“His athletic gifts are immediately apparent on the pickleball court,” Joseph says of Owens. “He possesses tremendous potential and an exceptionally high ceiling.
“Without question, one of Terrell’s greatest strengths is his coachability. He absorbs information like a sponge and is constantly looking for ways to improve.”
Owens often plays mixed doubles with a woman he met at the Calabasas club named Brittani Carr. “Playing alongside Terrell in a tournament is not for the faint of heart,” Carr said. “He’s extremely intense. He’s more ‘relaxed’ after we get a few warm-up games in.
“His biggest strengths as a player are his mentality around winning, his dedication to getting better and his hand speed. His trash talk is hilarious—never mean-spirited.”
Owens is known to show up at local courts looking for a game. Asked whether players who recognize him are starstruck or intimidated, he answers, “A little bit of both.”
He is in pickleball for the long haul. “It’s not a fad with me. I want to be on the senior pro tour. I want to be able to play pro with some of the higher-level guys.”
Doubting Owens’ chances to achieve that goal may be unwise.
He was a four-sport star in high school in Alexander City, Alabama, excelling in basketball, baseball and track along with football.
He is an elite-level athlete even in middle age, long into working out and eating healthy. He is still in shape 16 years after retiring from the NFL, lean and muscular at 6 feet, 3 inches tall and near his playing weight of 224 pounds. Throughout his football career, teammates said Owens was one of the hardest-working players they had ever seen.
Companies are aware of Owens’ name recognition and outsized personality and have signed him to endorsements. He has a signature paddle with CPX Pickleball and an apparel deal with Centerline Athletics.
Owens is also a partner with Celebrity Pickleball Bash, a sports entertainment company that pairs professional pickleball players with celebrities, so he plays matches with other sports stars and pro pickleball players.
In November 2025, just over a year after first playing, Owens and the second-ranked women’s pro player, Anna Bright, defeated top-ranked Anna Leigh Waters and NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki in an exhibition match that drew a big crowd during the Pickleball World Championships in Dallas.
Owens’ presence excites spectators in part because he plays pickleball like he played football, with flair. He often plays to the crowd, waving them on to cheer louder after he makes a good shot.
During his NFL career, Owens was a lightning rod—at times controversial, outspoken and colorful. He pulled off some unique touchdown celebrations.
While playing for the San Francisco 49ers in 2000, Owens scored two touchdowns in a game against the Dallas Cowboys. After each one, he ran to the 50-yard line and slammed the football down on the Cowboys’ iconic star logo. Following the second slam, Dallas safety George Teague took exception and leveled Owens, sparking a big brawl.
Another time after a TD, he took a Sharpie marker out of his sock, autographed the football and gave it to his financial advisor in the stands. Following another score, Owens grabbed popcorn from a fan and poured it through his face mask. And for yet another celebration, he grabbed a cheerleader’s pom-poms and waved them while dancing with the cheerleaders.
Asked if he is planning similar celebrations on the pickleball court, Owens said, “Trust me, once I get more immersed and feel more comfortable, it’s coming.
“You best believe that.” •
Matthew Schwartz spent 40 years in television news and won more than 200 awards, including four Emmys and four Edward R. Murrow awards for investigative reporting. His 2020 memoir, “Confessions of an Investigative Reporter,” was an Amazon #1 bestseller. He writes a weekly blog for Hudef Sport and plays pickleball six days a week.
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