Economics senior Jack Munro did not think a shoulder injury he sustained while playing baseball at 10 years old would launch a career in professional pickleball.

In fact, he didn’t even know that such a sport existed. 

However, 45 professional pickleball matches and 212 career wins later, the now 20-year-old Texas student reflects upon his unconventional path to success in an unconventional sport. 

“I had zero expectation of pursuing a pro pickleball career, even out of high school when I started getting back into it,” Munro said.

He grew up as an avid baseball player, and he saw himself continuing with the sport into middle and high school. However, fracturing the growth plate on his right shoulder changed the trajectory of his athletic career for good. 

Munro began to pick up the sport as a way to pass the time with his strong arm while he couldn’t play baseball, but it turned into much more than a way to battle restlessness. 

“(I) never looked back at baseball, literally never played another second of baseball after I decided and took that sling off,” Munro said. “I just wanted to keep playing pickleball, so that was my sport.” 

Munro became the youngest player to earn a 5.0 pickleball rating at just 12 years old, a rating that organizes non-professional players into competitive divisions by highest skill level. 

At the age of 19, he began his professional pickleball career, using his talents to both earn titles at tournaments and successfully cultivate a brand through content creation.

“My content has been so fun,” Munro said. “I love pickleball, and I created this niche of pickleball where I was recording high-level points and then just posting the best highlights of it.”

Recently on the court, Munro earned gold medals in both mixed pro doubles and men’s pro doubles at the 2025 APP Chicago Open, held at Danny Cunniff Park from Aug. 27 through Aug. 31. His multiple-time mixed doubles partner, Megan Fudge, revealed more about his strengths as a partner. 

“Jack brings a lot of passion and creativity to the sport and to the game,” Fudge said in an email. “It’s fun playing with him, as he creates a lot of fun points and has a positive vibe and outlook.”

While the two have found success playing with one another several times, Fudge noted that they actually found each other through playing against one another. 

“I had played against Jack a few times,” she wrote. “He was part of the Next Gen team, working hard. Of course, he was very young, but I could recognize his raw talent and knew he could develop into a great lefty player that matched well with my strengths.”

The two can next be seen playing together at the 2025 APP Dallas Open from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2.

Despite how much Munro is currently flourishing within the world of professional pickleball, his relationship with the sport hasn’t always been such a positive one. In fact, Munro actually hung up his paddle altogether for a large portion of his youth.

“Post COVID, it blew up in the younger audience,” Munro said. “But back then, in middle school, I was getting bullied because I played pickleball. Kids are calling me pickleball, and they were just bullying the absolute crap out of me.”

Now, those same friends call Munro to ask him where to buy paddles from.

“(Pickleball) gave me a lot of validation that at least I’m not a super weirdo, playing it so young,” Munro said. “But it turned out to be so fun.”

On the Forty Acres, Munro founded Longhorn Pickleball, an organized pickleball club that sends players to both local and out-of-town tournaments. He has used the sport he discovered young to both find his own success and help the sport reach others.