Dad has a trophy on his dresser of a silver figure wearing a Greek robe and holding a laurel wreath over his head. 

The base reads: “Allenhurst Beach Club, Second Place, 1941.”

That trophy has been there most of my life and it was obviously important enough for him to display prominently. 

But until recently I had never asked what it was actually for. 

I assumed it was for swimming or diving since he was on the state championship team at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. and later dove and swam at Cornell. 

It turns out I was wrong. 

That second place finish was for the club’s annual shuffleboard championship.

Dad was 15 at the time and competing in the junior division. His father won the men’s senior group that same year. 

I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that my father has kept and displayed a trophy for garnering second place in a shuffleboard match that occurred 84 years ago. 

It made more sense when I learned that shuffleboard was the pickleball of its day. 

Shuffleboard exploded in popularity during the 1940s, appealing to the young and old. The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club – the world’s oldest and largest club – grew from 2 courts in 1924 to 116 courts by 1939. At the peak in 1945 there were 8,000 members. 

There was so much demand during the 1940s that manufacturers struggled to keep up with orders. They sponsored nationwide tournaments covered in the sports pages of major newspapers. Some were even televised.

One aspect that fueled excitment was the cross-generational participation. 

Interest waned in the 1960s and 1970s, in part due to the association with retirement communities and cruise ships and in general an older demographic. By 2005, the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club had collapsed to just 35 members.

These days there is a bit of a revival going on as Millennials and Gen Z discover the sport. That renewed interest is perhaps best illustrated by the opening in 2014 of the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 

The Royal Palms is everything you would expect from a Brooklyn establishment. It was financed with $2 million raised via Kickstarter. The courts rent for $40 an hour and the club serves draft beers in Mason jars and cocktails named after shuffleboard legends Earl Ball and Jim Allen. Food trucks like Paradise Taco Truck park outside.

Right now the 2026 winter league is in full swing, with playoffs scheduled for June 8.

One immediate takeaway from all this is, of course, to visit the Royal Palms in Brooklyn. 

The bigger lesson is to ask your parents about all the trophies they brought home – both real and metaphorical. 

It may help you understand the world they inhabited.