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He Co-Founded Wham-O Just For Fun

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Los Angeles Times

Published: January 17, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Richard Knerr, 82, co-founder of Wham-O Inc., which unleashed the granddaddy of American fads, the Hula Hoop, on the world a half-century ago along with another enduring leisure icon, the Frisbee, died Monday in Arcadia.

With his boyhood best friend, Arthur "Spud" Melin, Knerr started the company in 1948 in Pasadena. They named the enterprise "Wham-O" for the sound their first product, a slingshot, made when it hit its target.

A treasure chest of toys followed that often bore playful names: Superball, so bouncy it seemed to defy gravity; Slip 'N Slide and its giggle-inducing cousin the Water Wiggle; and Silly String, which was much harder to get out of the hair than advertised.

When a friend told Knerr and Melin about a bamboo ring used for exercise in Australia, they devised their own without seeing the original.

They ran an early test of the product in 1958 at a Pasadena elementary school and enticed their test subjects by telling them they could keep the hoops if they mastered them. They seeded the market, giving hoops away in neighborhoods to create a buzz and required Wham-O executives to bring hoops with them on planes so people would ask about them.

Wham-O was soon producing 20,000 hoops a day at plants in at least seven countries while other companies made knock-offs. Within four months, 25 million were sold, according to Wham-O.

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