PRPC Connections - Getting to Know...

Scott E.

Writer’s note: As our club begins a new feature on our website to highlight members of PRPC, I was delighted that I was chosen to write about Scott E. Scott was one of the first people that I met when I started playing pickleball in 2025 and has always been kind and ready to give advice if I ask for it. Scott is one of the really good people in our club and it was also a pleasure to talk with him and get to know him even better as I prepared this article.

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If you’ve played pickleball at Centennial Park for long, you’ve probably noticed Scott E. before you even met him. Not because he’s the loudest player on the court, but because of the bright orange or yellow shoes. “I just like bright colors,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t like boring.” That same curiosity and enthusiasm has defined Scott’s approach to pickleball since the early days of the sport in Paso Robles.

Scott, one of the club’s “almost OG” members, started playing pickleball back in 2012 when Jack Hodges launched the program at Centennial Park.

In those early days, the group could barely fill five courts, the surface was bare concrete, and nets were set up and taken down every day. It wasn’t fancy but it was the beginning of something that Scott knew “wasn’t just a fad”.

Scott came to pickleball with a tennis background (high school and Cuesta College), but he admits part of the sport’s appeal was simply finding more people to play with. That sense of connection still defines his approach to the game today. He says what makes club membership satisfying is the social side and the shared effort and camaraderie that make any organization thrive. While some players are drawn to competition, Scott appreciates “playing the game well over the need to win at all costs”.

A Central Coast “local” of more than 50 years, Scott’s roots run deep. His family history in SLO County stretches back to the 1930s, and he graduated from Coast Union High School in Cambria in a class of just over 60 students. He met his wife, Su, in high school, and both share an appreciation for living on the Central Coast.

Before retirement, Scott spent the majority of his professional career in the fire service. He retired as an Assistant Fire Chief with PG&E/Diablo Canyon Fire Department after 35 years, which included time with Cal Fire and 10 years volunteering for Paso Robles City. Along the way, he taught technical rescue, swift water rescue, and hazardous materials response. In other words, if things got complicated, Scott was the guy you wanted nearby.

Life beyond the court is just as full. Many members know Scott through Zoo to You, the local wildlife education and rescue nonprofit where he has volunteered for more than 20 years. A former relief zookeeper and current outreach presenter, he specializes in handling alligators up to six feet long, and has worked with everything from primates and raptors to lions, tigers, and bears - oh my!

When he’s not wrangling reptiles or dinking at the kitchen line, Scott enjoys woodworking, riding a Vespa (faster than he probably should), flying radio-controlled aircraft, fuse glass, and most recently diving into 3D printing. Recreational pursuits over the years have included sailing, kayaking, flying hang gliders and sailplanes, rock climbing, mountaineering, volleyball, soccer, and even SCUBA diving. Safe to say, “retirement” hasn’t meant slowing down.

If Scott had walk-up music, he’d go with “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C&C Music Factory, or maybe “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc. And after a match? Home-brewed iced tea is his go-to post-game beverage of choice, which you may find him enjoying at Joe’s Cafe - one of his favorite local restaurants.

Friends might describe him as “nice”, but there’s a quiet humility beneath that word. Scott says his “superpower” is staying grateful and remembering that none of us are the center of the universe, a perspective that feels especially fitting in a sport built on shared space, effort, and laughter.

We’re lucky to have one of the originals still out there setting the tone, and reminding us that the best part of pickleball isn’t just the score at the end, but the people standing across the net. Because for Scott, the heart of pickleball isn’t about winning matches. “The only thing that matters is that people come to have fun,” he says. “Whether that’s competition or just the social side of things, it’s just a game.” After more than a decade on the courts, that spirit of enjoyment is exactly what keeps him coming back.

Morgan C.