Lyndon Anderson

Meet our newest MTC feature: Lyndon Anderson. Lyndon is an avid pickleball player who picked up the game two years ago and loves supporting his community in any way he can. A man of many talents and hobbies, he enjoys pickleball for the great exercise, great competition, and the great friends he’s made through the game.

Lyndon grew up on a livestock farm in the Baldwin area that’s been in his family since 1917. Lyndon notes that, because of the farm’s location on a elevated ridge, the views were incredible, and he’s never forgotten “driving tractor in the summer and watching thunderstorms develop out West.” For four years, Lyndon received his elementary education at a one-room school house. He jokes, “ I was the smartest, best-looking, most athletic, and humblest kid in my class!” 

Young Lyndon smiles for the camera

As he grew, Lyndon became an eager participant in several wide-ranging activities (a trend that would serve him well into adulthood). He took piano lessons, he played saxophone and football at Wilton High School, and he was involved in 4-H, even earning a trip to National 4-H Congress in Chicago in 1976. After high school, Lyndon attended NDSU and graduated with an agricultural economics degree, was a member of the FarmHouse Fraternity, and played in the pep band at basketball games.

In the professional world, Lyndon worked a variety of positions throughout his career, including his first as the editor of Farm & Ranch Guide, where he traveled a multi-state area while reporting on the ag industry. In this role, Lyndon recalls immersing himself in the “initial transition to one-pass tillage systems, a transformational change in how farmers grew crops in a semi-arid environment.” Lyndon also spent time as the communications leader for Great River Energy, a role from which he retired in 2022. 

After retiring, he decided to give pickleball a try. He joined a pickleball class and started playing recreationally before the class had even finished. He was instantly hooked, and he notes how the welcoming and helpful nature of the pickleball community played a big role in his initial excitement for the game. Now, two years and hundreds of hours on the court later, Lyndon loves the game more than ever, and he points to three primary reasons for it: the exercise, the competition, and the friends. 

Lyndon snaps a selfie at one of his new favorite places: the pickleball courts

First, the exercise. Lyndon says, “The body is made to move.” And, as his physician reminds him, “If you don’t move your body, you’ll lose the ability to do so.” Enter pickleball! Although there was a bit of a grace period while Lyndon’s body acclimated to the sometimes-odd movements of pickleball (which included some trips to the physical therapist), he now plays 10 hours a week without issue. In addition, Lyndon has found that his weight has dropped significantly since he’s started playing—he attributes this to the amount of sweat that a great pickleball session provides! 

There are other ways to get great exercise, certainly, but by playing pickleball, Lyndon notes that the game is also a great source of competition. “I love competition,” Lyndon says. “I love to play and I play to win, but I also have fun no matter what happens.” Lyndon finds himself reflecting on different patterns and themes that occurred during a particular match and practicing them or enlisting the help of others in order to improve—a process which takes time, he notes. 

Enlisting others’ help in order to improve would be impossible without the strong and friendly pickleball community. Lyndon raves about the friends he’s made by playing the game. They spend enough time together, Lyndon notes, that they’ve started to feel like family. Whether it’s going out for dinner after a great day at the courts, volunteering for local charities, sneaking some raucous accordion music into a Christmas party, starting friendly water fights at Lyndon’s family farm, or lounging on the sandbars of the Missouri River, Lyndon says he’s done all with friends he’s made through pickleball. “I have noticed that pickleball players often act like they are 40 years younger than they actually are, and that’s what makes this group so much fun,” Lyndon notes. Maybe pickleball is the fountain of youth—and the fountain of fun! 

Lyndon (left) and his son, Loren (right) pose together after winning the gold medal at a local Bismarck-Mandan Pickleball Club tournament

When he’s not playing pickleball, Lyndon stays active in many different ways. He’s a lover of nature photography (particularly wild flowers and the northern lights); he’s an avid hiker of the North Dakota badlands and the Desert Southwest; he’s an NDSU football season ticket-holder; and he’s a winter snowshoe-er because, he says, “if you live in North Dakota, you have to have outdoor interests like snowshoeing so that you look forward to snow!”

Lyndon enjoying the snow

Lyndon is also the primary caretaker of a renowned garden on his family farm. He’s become an advocate in recent years for regenerative gardening methods like no-till planting and the use of compost, worm farming, and beetle banks in order to keep his plants and soil healthy and thriving. Lyndon encourages anyone interested in this method of gardening to attend his presentation: “Tilling Your Soil with Worms, Microbes & Roots” at the Dakota Garden Expo on Friday, April 19, 2024 in Bismarck.

Lyndon’s incredible garden

Lyndon further serves his community as a volunteer at his church, at various charitable organizations in the Bismarck area, and at the Medora Foundation. He serves as a board member for Capital Electric Cooperative and the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District, and he was a previous board member for the North Dakota 4-H Foundation. 

He is married to Linda Schindler Anderson, and they have two children together. Their daughter, Sarah, is a pharmacist at the Sanford Infusion Center in Bismarck, and their son, Loren, has a PhD in Mathematics and is currently conducting research on artificial intelligence. One of Lyndon’s favorite pickleball memories is getting to play two tournaments together with Loren, a high school tennis standout featured on our Wall of Champions display as a West Region singles champion in 2010 and 2011.   

Lyndon, Linda (center), and daughter Sarah (right) enjoy a beautiful hike

Above all, Lyndon is grateful: “I would like to thank the Bismarck and Mandan Parks and Rec departments for the opportunities to play, including at the Mandan Tennis Center, Elk Ridge courts, Capital Racquet and Fitness Center, etc. I also thank the Bismarck Mandan Pickleball Club and the Mandan Tennis Center for their efforts to grow the sport, and for all the tournaments that they hold. The future of the sport is bright and only going to grow. Come join us, the investment of your time in pickleball is something you will never regret.”

We couldn’t agree more, Lyndon—thanks for being a friend of the game.