The Duke’s Alzheimer’s Pickleball Challenge Raises Funds to Aid Alzheimer’s Research

Gary Garabedian vows to play pickleball for 365 days straight to honor his dad, Aram Garabedian, who is living with Alzheimer's Disease.

14 hours ago

Jamie Coelho,

Gary Garabedian is playing pickleball 365 days in a row in honor of his dad, Aram Garabedian, to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Photo by Stephen Fasano.

Inside a former movie theater next to a bustling Home Depot in Middletown, four men in teams of two face off, feet on the ground, knees bent, ready for action on a bright blue court. A neon yellow ball is thrown underhand and meets the flat face of a small paddle, driving it across the court, over the net. The ball is met by the force of another paddle strike on the other side, and it ricochets over the net where it is met with an instant smack. The back and forth motions continue until a point is scored when one team fails to deliver the ball inside the lines on the other side, up to eleven points.

The sport looks like ping-pong on a king-sized court, and it’s similar to tennis, only with smaller paddles instead of rackets and a shortened play space. It’s pickleball, named after the hodgepodge of different sports that resemble the “pickleboats” in rowing made up of leftover crew.

A pickleball court.

One of today’s match-winning team members is Gary “The Duke” Garabedian, CEO of fifth-generation-owned real estate management firm Bliss Properties, which owns the Warwick Mall and several other commercial developments in Rhode Island. Garabedian took up pickleball about four years ago when he was looking to switch up his fitness and agility routine.

He and his son, Ross, first came across the game, then bought some paddles and took them to Hunter Park in Newport to play. As they were going through the motions of learning the game for the first time, an instructor saw them playing and taught them the official rules. Garabedian’s been playing ever since.

This year, he launched The Duke’s Alzheimer’s Pickleball Challenge, for which he is playing a minimum of ninety minutes of pickleball every day for 365 days in honor of his father, Aram Garabedian. His dad is ninety-one and suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia, and Garabedian approached the Alzheimer’s Association of Rhode Island about organizing a fundraiser in his name. The organization is a tenant in one of the buildings Garabedian owns, Bliss Place in Providence.

“I went up to see them, and I told them about my idea. I said, I think that this game of pickleball can bring more awareness to Alzheimer’s through the game,” he says. “And so they said, what do you have in mind? I said, ‘If I get people to sponsor me from 50 cents to $5 a day, and then I play for 365 days straight, I can get people to sponsor me and raise a lot of money.”

The Alzheimer’s Association of Rhode Island loved the idea and agreed to support him as he created his own website, DukeEndorsed.com, where he collects donations for the cause. Garabedian has made it to 221 consecutive days of play and he’s still going. So far he has raised more than $52,000 for the cause, including through a recent disco-themed fundraiser he held at Newport Pickleball Club in August. He also collects daily donations from individuals who pledge a certain amount for every day he plays.

There are two reasons the fundraiser has been successful so far, Garabedian says. One of the reasons is because so many people have a connection to someone with Alzheimer’s, and the other is because of his father. “Aram Garabedian – my father – is a very well known and popular person,” he says. “He was in politics his whole life, but he is a self-made, successful businessman… very honest, tremendous integrity, and extremely generous to the community. People know my father, and they want to honor him.”

Gary Garabedian plays pickleball.

Garabedian is planning a final gala fundraiser on February 20 at Ochre Court in Newport to mark his 365th day of play, which will be on February 10. And he’s also organizing a fundraising challenge where pickleball fans can bid to play professional pickleball players in person. He is grateful to his team of volunteers for helping him organize these efforts, as well as his wife, Mary, who he calls “the Duchess,” for putting up with him.

The pickleball enthusiast has played many sports in high school, and he compares his former positions as a hockey goalie, and as a baseball catcher, to pickleball because of the reaction time that is crucial in all three sports.

“See that blue box there? They call it the kitchen. You can’t step in there unless the ball bounces. But if you’re in the kitchen and someone whacks the ball, and drives it really hard at you, then you have to have a good reaction time,” he says. “So by being a hockey goalie, it’s helped me a lot because my reaction time’s really good.”

Now that Garabedian is sixty-five years old, he said he wanted to try something new and activate his brain at the same time. “Who would ever think that a new sport would just come out?” he says. “It’s brand new and it’s ‘fun for the brain.’”

To raise extra funds for the Alzheimers’ cause, Garabedian latched onto this theme “fun for the brain,” and created pickleball T-shirts with the pickleball itself resembling a brain. “Pickleball is also good for the brain, because of the camaraderie that comes with it,” he says.

As Garabedian played his 215th match in Middletown, several friends stood around the court, cheering him on, shouting, “Duke, Duke, Duke,” Garabedian’s nickname that he earned for wearing cufflinks and nice suits. “Someone once told me I dressed like a duke and the name stuck,” he says with a laugh.

Garabedian has successfully played pickleball every day so far for 221 days, and his friends are there to support him through 144 more on the court. “These are my buddies, and I have only known these guys for three years,” he says. “I socialize with them, and a lot of them are my age, some are younger, some are older. It’s an amazing thing, and so healthy for you.”