Maya Angelou said: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

There are many ways that Max Manthou’s A Pickleball Gospel, which made its published debut in October of 2024, embodies this sentiment from one of the most prolific writers in American history. Originally starting out as his master’s thesis for a master’s degree in anthropology from Illinois State University, the book evokes plenty of emotion to make an argument about pickleball as a sport as well as a culture, which most, if not all, pickleball players could likely relate to.

The inspiration, in fact, came from Manthou’s feelings about a tragedy experienced in his own life, which caused him to reflect on the broader impact of sport as a non-zero-sum game. He leans heavily on the concept of “coopetition,” a combination of the words “competition” and “cooperation,” to illustrate his examples and make his argument.

“While distracting you with a bouncy plastic ball and tales of my wandering past, I actually have something to say,” writes Manthou in the first chapter of A Pickleball Gospel.

‍“Purple Jesus,” as Manthou is affectionately known, for his long brown hair and penchant for wearing purple, had no intention of turning his thesis into a book, but some urging by his advisor, Dr. Jim Stanlaw, at Illinois State, was all that was required to get the pickleball rolling.

“He was pretty adamant that I write a book because he thought that it was worthy enough or there was something unique enough about it or my writing was good enough that it definitely should see the light of day in the publishing world,” recalls Manthou on Stanlaw’s sentiments. “That was awesome when he encouraged me to do that and it gave me definitely a purpose last year…I really had a great year because I always felt like I was doing something worthwhile.”

After earning his master’s from Illinois State in July of 2023, Manthou was back in his home state of Washington when a pickleball contact introduced Manthou to a friend of his, who happened to be the CEO of a local publishing company. The match was ideal, and Manthou began work on his book in September of 2023, mostly adjusting the academic vernacular to something more suitable for public consumption. The entire publishing process took about a year, and what resulted in October of 2024 was a humorous, slightly self-depricating, brilliantly-written collection of pickleball vignettes from Manthou’s life, woven together to create a masterful commentary on sport, the impact of sport on a person and their community, as well as a valuable lesson on the way in which human beings are intricately connected in the web of life.

A Pickleball Gospel is entirely written in the first-person perspective, which enables Manthou to hook the reader into his love letter to pickleball with charm and personal voice.

“By virtue of your interest, I am happy to say that this love story now includes you. With the multitude of other activities available to occupy your time, including playing pickleball instead of reading about it, it is my humble and sincere wish that you find something in the following pages that is worth your while,” Manthou scribes in his introduction.

Two whole chapters of the book are dedicated to Manthou’s first experience at the pro level, the 2022 APP Daytona Beach Open. These two specific chapters would greatly benefit anyone looking to get into pro pickleball, as they create a detailed, insightful account of his triumphs and tribulations at this one particular tournament, which includes competition with current APP pros Ryler DeHeart, Jayden Broderick, and William Sobek.

It wasn’t until the spring of 2024 though, that Manthou became a mainstay on the APP Tour pro circuit. Up until that point, he had been playing in tournaments with friends and simply for fun, but when APP pro Erik Lange asked Manthou to play the 2024 Chase APP Miami Pickleball Open in March as his men’s pro doubles partner, Manthou jumped at the chance.

“I wasn’t planning on [playing in Miami], so last-minute I said ‘yes,’ because no one that good had ever asked me to play with them,” remembers Manthou.

In what proved to be excellent recruiting by Lange, the first-time duo upset a top-seeded team early in the tournament, en route to a bronze medal in Miami. This result largely teed up an incredibly successful year of pro pickleball for Manthou in which he won seven APP Tour medals - the third-most amongst men - four gold and three bronze. He also won a silver medal at the USA Pickleball national championships in November in men’s pro doubles with Lange. Manthou has added three more medals on the APP Tour thus far in 2025.

As enviable as these pickleball stats may sound to some, this is arguably not the most impressive part of Manthou’s resume.

After he graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in History, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Minor in Mathematics, Manthou spent two years in Indonesia as part of the Peace Corps, teaching English at a high school. Following his time in the Peace Corps, he did social work with kids from Central America.

Manthou had a love of traveling instilled in him by his parents, both schoolteachers, at a young age - at five years old, he would eat his morning cereal on a place mat with a world map on it. His interest was furthered in college when he took a class on the Baltic region, where fell in love with what he calls a “history of the margins.”

“I always thought Peace Corps was a cool idea, but that class really pushed me to it, the idea of going out, being sent somewhere that is definitely in the margin of the world,” explains the 33-year-old Manthou. “Having to adapt and learn and maybe help somebody, but mostly learn and grow, that was so enticing.”

Then, of course, came graduate school at Illinois State, which ultimately led to the publication of A Pickleball Gospel.

It was Manthou’s intention to go back to school after his book published, earn a PhD, and become a full-fledged anthropologist. But as the saying goes about the best laid plans, his pickleball success in the spring of 2024 put that plan on the back burner. It’s highly likely that Manthou returns to head down that road at some point in time, even as early as next year, and his ultimate goal is to become an academic.

Right now, however, he is enjoying not only success in pickleball, but the success of his first book, to which there has been an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

“I think if you put your heart and effort in places you care about and with earnest, you might not know where you’re going but you’ll end up somewhere pretty good, or you’ll end up somewhere that was worth it,” reflects Manthou, who currently has no plans for a sequel. “This book, honestly, has been great. I’m really happy to have published it just for myself. I feel like I’ve done something to give back.”

This positive, noble mentality from Manthou should come as no surprise to those who know him well. Admired and respected on the APP Tour - and certainly beyond - for his humility and integrity, Manthou has carved a place for himself in pickleball, in academia, in publishing, and arguably in service to others at the tender age of 33. As Lange states in his foreword included in A Pickleball Gospel, Manthou is an “extraordinary human,” the idea of which is also made clear within the book’s pages.

In the end, dear reader, A Pickleball Gospel is not only a commentary about sport and life, but an insight into the mind and heart of it’s author, and as the nickname “Purple Jesus” might suggest, one would do well to listen to its teachings.

‍

*Buy your own copy of A Pickleball Gospel here.