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HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 13:23:41 GMT Server: Apache/2.4.65 (Debian) Last-Modified: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 18:20:51 GMT ETag: "553b-6440ac1cb6b08-gzip" Accept-Ranges: bytes Vary: Accept-Encoding Content-Encoding: gzip Content-Length: 6875 Content-Type: text/html Badminton Museum

USA Badminton Museum

A collection of historical materials highlighting the sport of Badminton, focused on items that are not available elsewhere and contributed by interested individuals. If you have any materials to help complete the various collections or start a new one please consider submitting them.

The intent of this digital museum is to catalog and preserve artifacts and history of all things related to Badminton in the United States. While some of the items here started out in digital format, for obvious reasons most were hardcopy and have been digitized.

History
Governing Entities - ABA/USBA/USAB and their details and publications
National - tournaments, publications and other details of national scope
Regional - tournaments, publications and other details of regional scope
People - prominent individuals
International Participation
Collections - exhibits created or presented by individuals or groups and presented intact
Miscellany
Reference

History

Origins
Badminton was named after the country estate of the dukes of Beaufort in England, where it was first
named and formalized by the early 1860's (ref: National Badminton Museum in Milton Keynes). The roots of the game can be traced back to ancient Greece, China, and India. Its precursor was Battledore and Shuttlecock.

United States
Badminton in the USA can be traced back to the late 19th Century. During that time there have been three governing bodies. Founded in 1936, ABA (American Badminton Association) existed until 1977 and was then reformed as USBA (United States Badminton Association). USBA remained until 1997 when it became USAB (USA Badminton). An excellent presentation of the early history was written by Diane Hales for her graduate research and was later summarized as an article in the 1985 US Nationals Program and published as a booklet in 1988.

The purpose of this study was to develop a history of the sport of badminton in the United States between the year 1878, when the first badminton club was unofficially formed, and 1939, a year that marked the end of a major period of growth of badminton in this country.

The original work was performed by Diane Hales at Cal Poly Pomona and is available online at the CalState Website. A searchable version is provided here for convenience. ^[10JUN2022]

Governing Entities

General Information
The first President of USA's national body was Donald E. Wilbur in 1936-38 followed by 33 presidents ending with Paisan Rangsikitpho in 2007-2008. At the request of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2009, the USAB underwent a governance reform process and the Board President position was changed to Chairman of the Board. The USAB National Office was run from President's homes until 1991 when the office was established in Omaha, NE, followed by offices in Lincoln, NE; Colorado Springs, CO; Anaheim, CA; and back to Colorado Springs, CO.
ABA (1936-1976)
The American Badminton Association was founded in 1936 when Donald E. Wilbur, Robert McMillan, Donald Richardson, and Phillip Richardson decided to unite various badminton groups in the country. A Board of Directors was formed to manage rules, amateur status, membership, publications, and tournaments.
- Publications
  - ABA Bulletin (1967-19??)
  - Bird Chatter (1941-1967)
  - Badminton USA (1967-1976)
- More...
USBA (1976-1996)
The name was changed to the United States Badminton Association in 1976.
- Publications
  - Badminton USA (1977-1996)
  - Badminton News (1991-1999)
- More...
USAB (1997-present)
The name was changed to USA Badminton in 1997.
- Publications
  - Badminton USA (1997-2003)
- More...

National

Tournaments
- US Nationals (1937-present)
- US Open (1954-present)
- US Senior Nationals (1938-present)
- US Senior Internationals (1980-present)
- US Junior Nationals (1947-present)
- Other Events
Publications
- Rule Books (1873-present)
- The Badminton Magazine (1983-1989)
- Cross Court (2004-2012)
- Badminton Monthly (2013-2015)
Philanthropic Organizations
- Active
  These are non-profit organizations. We encourage you to support these worthwhile causes.
  - Quest4Gold - Empowering the next generation of Badminton champions.
    An organization "dedicated to raising funds and awareness to promote the sport, creating opportunities for talented athletes to shine." Active since 2024. ^[02MAR2025]
  - USBEF - US Badminton Education Foundation
    This Foundation works in cooperation with USA Badminton to promote the growth and support support of badminton throughout the U.S. Incorporated in 1967 all board members are volunteers. Funds collected are used for training, education, and furthering of the sport in conjunction with the USAB. with USA Badminton. Active since 2011ba. ^[02MAR2025]
  - BGV - Badminton Goes Viral
    The mission of BGV is to support youth fitness, wellness and health through badminton. Activities
    include State School Team Championships, outreach to health and wellness organizations,
    badminton program at Boys & Girls Club America, teacher trainings, school and professional
    presentations, Kids Intensive Training Days, and Kids Tournaments. Active since 2017. ^[02MAR2025]
  - USA Badminton Museum
- Historical
  These organizations are no longer active
  - ABPA - fundraising offshoot of ABA
Media

Regional

Badminton in the USA has historically been largely focused on regional organizations. These organizations tend to correlate with the USAB regions and have at time served as the de-facto regional representatives.

Southern California Badminton Association
SCBA is one of the oldest and most active Badminton organizations in the USA. It has organized and promoted the sport in Southern California and the greater Southwest since 1939. As part of this effort many events and publications have been offered. ^[10JUN2022]
- Tournaments
  - Dave Freeman Open (1953-present)
  - Western States Open (1941?-?)
- Publications
  - SCBA Newsletter (1956-1974)
  - Shuttle Scuttle (1974-2003)
  - SCBA News (2016-present)
  - Booklets (1987-2013)
- Clubs
  - Orange County Badminton Club - one of the first and the finest dedicated clubs built in the modern era. ^[25FEB2023]
  - Manhattan Beach Badminton Club - one of the oldest in the US ^[10JUN2022]
More...
Northern California Badminton Association
NCBA existed from ?? to ?? and was active in organizing Badminton before the advent of dedicated clubs toward the turn of the century
- Peninsula Badminton Club

More...

Midwest Badminton Association
The Midwest Badminton Association (MBA) served as the organizing body for the USAB Region 2 for many years and maintained a web presence (midwestbadminton.com) from 2001 until 2021.
- MBA Bulletin (19??-1978)
- MBA Newsletter (1978-1990)
- The Flick (1990-2010)
- Top Flight Badminton Club - longtime club at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska
- Ray Scott Open (1972-2014)
More...
Southern Badminton Association
The Southern Badminton Association (SBA) served as the organizing body for USAB Region 3 where
the Shula Athletic Club hosted the US Senior International from 1985 to 2017.
- Schula Athletic Club
- Duke University

More...

Northwest Badminton Association
More...
Northeast Badminton Association
The Northeast Badminton Association (NEBA) has served the region where USA badminton was born. In 1878 the
Badminton Club of New York started it all.
- Boston Open (1997-2019)
- Connecticut Open (1960-2020)
- NEBA Smash
More...

People

Roy Jordan (1911-1992)
Hugh Forgie (1912-1993)
Jack Harvey (1923-2021)
Cletus Eli (1924-1990)
Ed Matanga (1953-2022)
Diane Cornell (1954-2020)
Andy Chong (1965-2024)

More...

International Participation

Olympics
Badminton had its debut as an official event in the 1992 Summer Olympics, and has been contested in eight Olympiads. Seventy-four different nations have appeared in the Olympic badminton competition, with 18 appearing all 8 times. The competition is governed by the Badminton World Federation.
BWF World Championships
- Adult
  The BWF World Championships, formerly known as the IBF World Championships, started in 1977 and was held once every three years until 1983. In 1985 it became biennial, then in 2006 it was changed to an annual event except for Summer Olympics years.
- Senior
  The BWF World Senior Championships, sanctioned by the BWF, began in 2003 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is held biennially. The individual championships include Men's & Women's Singles, Men's & Women's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. Age categories run from +35 to +75.
- Junior
  The BWF World Junior Championships were organized by the BWF in 1992 to crown the best junior badminton players (under-19) in the world. Held annually it has two competitions: a mixed team championships (Suhadinata Cup) followed by individual championships (Eye Level Cups).
Team Championships
- Thomas Cup Men's team world championships
- Uber Cup Women's team world championships
- Sudirman Cup Mixed team world championships
World Master Games
Begun in 1985 this multi-sport competition draws upwards of 25,000 senior athletes every 4 years. Badminton has both team and individual competition with over 1200 players at one WMG. US seniors have always done well winning a good share of team and individuals honors.
Canadian Masters - one of the premier senior tournaments in world
Other Events

Collections

Various sets of items that have been created by individuals and groups.

Gil Fried ^{(December 2022)}

More...

Miscellany

Items which do not yet have an appropriate room for display.

More...

Reference

Other Racquet Sports Museums
- Pickleball - announced Jan 2022 - under construction as of September 2023
- Racquetball - Founded 2010, appears static after 2017^[31JAN2023]
- Tennis - there appear to be various museum sites for tennis but none dedicated to USA tennis, If anyone can suggest a link please do so.

World Badminton Museum Contributors

Original Source | Taken Source