A banana every morning, along with a glass of milk, and some pickleball in the afternoon. For Donald Taft, at least, this is his recommended elixir to older people who want to keep drinking from the fountain of youth.
At 93, the longtime Springfield restaurateur is believed to be the oldest active pickleball player in a city teeming with them. At the Springfield Racquet and Fitness Center on Chatham Road, where he plays three days a week, Taft sometimes plays against opponents close to a half century younger.
Opponents may marvel at his proficiency at the game for such an age. Asked to describe the current state of his game, however, Taft is a bit more self-deprecatory.
“Do you know what a snail is?” Taft asks. “How ‘bout a fire hydrant? When I started playing about eight years ago, I was decent. I was moving pretty good. Not so much now. But, you know, every now and then I have one of those days where I’m feeling pretty good and hitting the ball pretty good and I’ll throw my arms up and say, ‘Oh my God, I feel like I’m 80 years old again.’”
Likened by some as a combination of ping-pong and tennis, pickleball has been the rage for several years now for older Americans wanting a brisk, low-impact form of exercise that brings out the competitive juices, too. The Racquet and Fitness Center has nine indoor pickleball courts, with open play morning and night. Pickleball courts can be found elsewhere in the area at the Springfield Park District’s Iles and Duncan parks, at the Chatham Community Park, the privately owned Premier Pickleball Center on Constitution Drive and at the Salvation Army and YMCA.
Springfield Pickleball League president Tony Stang says there are more than 600 registered players, in all age ranges. It was once seen as a sport mainly for older people, but Stang said more and more younger players are taking it up.
A regulation pickleball court measures 20 feet wide by 44 feet long, not counting out-of-bounds space, while a regulation tennis court is 27 by 78 for singles and 36 by 78 for doubles.
“You obviously don’t have as much ground to cover, which can be an attractive thing to an older person, let’s say,” says Jack Handy, 73, a local pickleball player and teacher. “People get really addicted to it very fast. The rules are pretty simple and it’s easy to play.”
An estimated 5 million people play pickleball in the U.S. The sport has even gone professional, with 20 teams from around the country currently competing in Major League Pickleball, including one in Illinois, the Chicago Slice.
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Taft first fell in love with handball, which he said he played for about 20 years, then graduated to playing regular racquetball, which became all the rage in the 1970s and ’80s. Then, he played regular tennis for years until, about eight years ago, he switched to pickleball. His other activity, three days a week, is a round of golf with his two sons.
Taft also enjoys riding “Boss Hoss,” his 445 horsepower, three-wheeled motorcycle with a Corvette engine. He said he used to ride Harleys, but after seeing a similar trike at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, he decided to get one of his own.
“I went to Sturgis in 2013 and said, ‘Boy, I gotta have one of these,” Taft said. “I put about 2,000 miles a year on it. I’ve been to place where there are a lot of Harleys, but people go right past those and start asking me questions about it.” The Rochester native, who grew up on a dairy farm, is a distant relative of former U.S. President William Howard Taft. To longtime Springfield residents, he is better known for being the owner of the Heritage House, an all-you-can eat smorgasbord that opened on South Sixth Street in 1964 before closing in 2004.
“We had an all-you-can eat lunch buffet for $1.19 when we first opened. Dinner was $1.85, and a drink cost a quarter more,” Taft said. “We did very well for a long time, but then all-you-can eat places started popping up everywhere, and the business dropped off some. At one point, though, I think I had 12 stores in the Midwest area.”
In 2010, Taft got back into the restaurant business, opening a Le Peep franchise store on the west side of town. He sold his interest in the store several years ago. He divides his time between Rochester and a home in Florida and is now fully retired.
But not from pickleball.
“I urge everyone, especially those a little older who maybe are bored with just walking or whatnot, to pick up a racquet and give it a whirl,” said Taft, a former licensed pilot who served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. “A lot of people like to play doubles, and so it’s also a great way to socialize, maybe meet some new friends. Most of us all just laugh and have a good time together. But, I like to win sometimes, too!”
Adrian Dater, a longtime former sportswriter in Denver and author of seven books, moved to Springfield in 2023 to get his first taste of life in the Midwest.
This article appears in August 20-26, 2026.
We need a Rec center like Wood River and Lincoln with pickleball courts for the community for indoor to play affordably all year long. I travel to Wood River Rec center and Grip and Sip in cottage hills near Wood River for Regular play. Premeir is just too expensive and Joining a fitness center to play is not cost effective.