SAN FRANCISCO — On the football field, Terrell Owens parlayed his combination of speed, strength and leaping ability — among other traits — into a Hall of Fame career. On the pickleball court, Owens is learning that the tools that made him a great receiver don’t automatically make him a great pickleball player.
“I’ve been humbled while playing a couple people, playing some team and not being on the winning side,” Owens said. “I’ve gravitated to the sport because I love it. They say it’s the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. I don’t know where it ranks worldwide, but it’s a pickleball phenomenon right now.”
Owens and former Warriors great Chris Mullin made appearances at Sports Basement in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon to promote the upcoming Celebrity Pickleball Bash, set for Feb. 15-16 at The Warfield during NBA All-Star weekend.
Along with Mullin and Owens, the list of players in that event will include former Giant Hunter Pence, former Warrior Baron Davis, Vallejo native CC Sabathia, soccer Hall of Famer Brandi Chastain and former MMA fighter Urijah Faber, among others.
According to Ben Shapiro, the CEO and founder of PIVOT Agency and a former executive with the Golden State Warriors, the plan is to scale up the event and appear at the Final Four, NBA Summer League, U.S. Open, Super Bowl and the Grammys.
“The pro pickleball space is growing,” Shapiro said. “I think Celebrity Pickleball Bash is going to be a big part of the pickleball ecosystem because everybody loves celebrities and everybody loves pickleball. If you think about what you love about pickleball, it’s that you love the social component, the fact you can play music, you can have a glass of wine or you can have a beer. Celebrity Pickleball Bash is just taking that to the next level.”
Following a Q&A segment moderated by Shapiro — Owens went out of his way to challenge fellow former 49er Deion Sanders to a pickleball match — Mullin and Owens played a doubles match against Shapiro and KPIX sports director Vern Glenn. Despite Mullin and Owens being Hall of Famers in their respective sports, Glenn and Shapiro kept pace with the Bay Area legends before losing by a point.
“I’ve never won anything in my life!” Glenn joked midway through the match.
“This is going on the evening news!” Mullin said.
Along with talking pickleball, Mullin and Owens offered their thoughts on their former respective teams.
The San Francisco 49ers recently concluded a bizarre, injury-mired season, finishing with a 6-11 record and leaving the franchise facing an uncertain future. Owens cited how injuries to stars Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk (after Aiyuk’s holdout), Dre Greenlaw, Trent Williams and Nick Bosa were too much to overcome.
“If you think about it as a boat with holes in it,” Owens said, “there were a lot of holes in the boat. It’s hard to stay afloat when you’ve got all those things going on.”
The Golden State Warriors still have plenty of time but are in the midst of a month-long tailspin, a situation that will be all the more difficult to navigate with Jonathan Kuminga out for several weeks with an ankle injury.
“The Warriors are always a threat as long as they have Steph Curry,” Mullin said. “Jonathan Kuminga’s going to be out for a few weeks, so that’s going to hurt their bench production. If they can get healthy and get situated — [Dennis] Schröder is a very good player so that adjustment hopefully will settle in – they can start playing more consistent basketball.”
