Saved by Pickleball And Friends

Mike Welter suffered a massive stroke in 2018. It took him off the pickleball court for a year. Now 72, Welter is thriving because of the game and those who supported him.

*Part of a series leading up to the National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa.

By Del Moon/NSGA Communications

In 2017, senior athlete Mike Welter of Cape Coral, Florida, was flying high. The former tennis player had mastered pickleball and won two gold medals at the Super Seniors International Pickleball Association (SSIPA) World Championships as his peak accomplishments. He was also honored Male Athlete of the Year by the Florida Senior Games.

However, 2018 wasn’t as kind. Mike suffered a massive stroke while visiting family just north of Pittsburgh.

“Sharon Hospital refused to admit me and called a helicopter,” he saids. “They transferred me to Allegheny General Hospital downtown. We landed on the roof, and they took me in, and I don’t know what happened for the next week.

"I had vision issues and lost use of my left arm and leg. They were just nothing, and they had to teach me how to walk."

It’s hard to rattle a retired Marine Colonel, but Mike admits he was scared. Yet his excellent physical condition and medical care that continued at his local VA hospital contributed to his recovery.

It took a year before Mike could handle a paddle again, but his doctor praised how quickly he progressed. “He asked, ‘What have you been doing? You’re so healthy.’ I answered, ‘I play pickleball.’ He replies, ‘Keep doing it.’ I considered that doctor’s orders!”

Mike, 72, credits his Marine Corps background for the lifelong fitness that helped him overcome the stroke. Mike climbed back up the ranks in pickleball and began winning medals and championships again.

Yet, there was one more psychological challenge he did not expect five years later when the host city for the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana was announced for Pittsburgh..

“I was 100 percent apprehensive and superstitious about Pittsburgh,” he says. “I wanted to go back, and I didn’t want to go. But my wife Diane is from that area, and a bunch of relatives had never seen me play. They came to the convention center at eight in the morning and they stayed all day long grasping it all in, and we kept winning and winning.”

Then came Mike’s full-circle moment.

“I could look out the window of the convention center, and I saw helicopters landing on the roof of Allegheny General Hospital with trauma patients,” he remembers emotionally. “Oh, man. I prayed for everyone. It’s hard, but going back to Pittsburgh helped me get past my fears. And you know what? My partner, George Basista, and I won gold in Men’s Doubles!”

Mike also credits another local pickleball player that he considers a guardian angel for helping restore his health and confidence.

“I only knew Gary Douthat as another player in the area, but he just had a calling to befriend me,” Mike says with some wonder in his voice.

“I still wasn’t walking great yet, and Gary started coming to my house every day to take me to the pickleball court to start dinking.” Mike said. “He did that for a year, taking me to the court, to the VA hospital and to lunch.

"I don’t know where he came from, but he has become real good friends with my whole family. My grandson calls him ‘G Man’. Then Gary and I played in the U.S. Open in the following year, and we came in fourth. He really helped save my life.”

Coming back also gave Mike a chance to give back, as he led the charge to have a new pickleball complex built in his area. Players were crowding the Lee County rec centers and pickleballers could only find spaces to play while children were in school or at night.

“It took me five years and three mayors to get the Lake Kennedy Racquet Center. I was kicked out of one mayor’s office two times,” he says with some amusement.

The new complex includes 32 pickleball courts and 12 tennis courts with a big grass area for a future championship court. Mike is proud to share that it opened last August and has already hosted three tournaments, including the UPA Florida State Championships.

In the end, though, Mike circles back to his 30 years of military service as the core of his well-being and resilience. He loves to share that the officer who interviewed him at the academy was Lt. Colonel Oliver North. “Ollie helped get me in the Marine Corps, and when I retired I got one rank higher than him, so I did good.

“I’m real proud of the fact that I was able to fight and fight and fight and get back in the game,” he adds. “That’s what Marines do.”