Onset resident George Hempel got an early surprise for his 89th birthday on Thursday, Feb. 21, with a party held in his honor at the Gleason Family YMCA in Wareham.

An avid pickleball player, the retired U.S. veteran has amassed a collection of friends at the Y who said they all want to be like George when they “grow up.”

“I’ve met a lot of wonderful people here,” George said. “I really have.”

Born in 1930 to German immigrants, George has lived a whirlwind life that’s carried him all along the East Coast of the United States to where he eventually settled in Onset.

Hempel grew up in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey where his father worked for the Singer Corporation manufacturing sewing machines.

A self described “wildcard” pitcher in high school, he played in New Jersey’s amateur baseball league for the Westfield Hawks after graduation.

He did this for two seasons as pitcher and centerfielder before teaching ballroom dancing in New York and eventually joining the service as an electrical engineer.

Though Hempel never received a formal college education, he attended classes at various engineering schools across the United States and received his basic training at Sampson Air Force Base.

Hempel spent four years as a staff sergeant in the 32nd Air Defense Command, Fighter Interception Squadron 60 during the Korean War.

He served stateside, and while stationed at the Otis Air National Guard Base, he met his wife, a Brockton native who was summering in Onset, at Tiny Jim’s Pizza in Bourne.

“We met in 1956,” Hempel recalled. “And a year later in 1957 we were married.”

The pair moved back to New Jersey for a short while, then to Avon and eventually Hansen before Hempel decided build a house of their own Onset in 1976.

“My wife truly loved it here,” he said. “So this is where we stayed.”

Hempel retired in 1997, shortly before his wife died of cancer.

Always active, he starting attending yoga classes at the Bourne Community Center with his neighbor. It was there he found the next love of his life: Pickleball.

“I remember we were doing yoga, and I could hear this noise in the other room,” Hempel said. “I was so curious, and when I walked in it looked like everyone was having so much fun I just wanted to be a part of it.”

The paddle sport combines elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis that easy for players of all ages to play and learn.

Hempel said pickelball at the Bourne Community Center became so popular that soon there was no room for out of town players. Luckily, the Gleason Family YMCA has just develop its own pickleball program.

“I’ve been here ever since,” Hempel said. “It’s a truly amazing community.”

To learn more about pickleball in Wareham, click here.