Obituary: Richard Knerr, Wham-O co-founder
By Tim Walsh -- Gifts and Dec, 1/21/2008 5:51:00 AM
ARCADIA, Calif.—Richard Knerr, co-founder of Wham-O, died on January 14 from complications from a stroke. He was 82.
Knerr, along with his boyhood friend, Arthur “Spud” Melin, formed Wham-O in 1948 in a garage in Pasadena, Calif. They named their partnership after the comic book sound that their first product, a slingshot, made when its projectile hit its target. Within 10 years they had popularized two of the biggest toys in history, Frisbee (first named the Pluto Platter in 1957) and the Hula Hoop in 1958.
Hula Hoop redefined the word “fad.” Knerr and Melin (who died in 2002) demonstrated the Hula Hoop on Pasadena playgrounds, graduating to local and then national TV shows. The publicity worked: Wham-O sold a staggering 25 million Hula Hoops in the summer of 1958. Knockoff hoops were said to have contributing an estimated 75 million more to the craze.
Because Hula Hoop demand died so fast, (Knerr said, “It was born in January and dead as a doornail by October.”) the Hula Hoop is often dismissed as a fad like the Mood Ring or Pet Rock. Yet when Kransco bought Wham-O for $12 million in 1982, Knerr and Melin were still selling an estimated 1.5 million Hula Hoops a year. The sensation had become a staple.
Frisbee took off just as Hula Hoop sales came rattling to the ground. Knerr and Melin masterfully marketed the toy as a sport. Today more than 200 million Frisbee discs have been sold and the list of "Frisbee sports" includes Ultimate, Disc Golf and even Disc Dog. (What other classic toy brand is enjoyed by another species?)
It’s hard to overstate Knerr and Melin’s impact on the toy industry, and in turn, the world. In the 34 years that Knerr and his partner ran Wham-O they popularized a treasure trove of toys, including Slip 'n' Slide (1961), Water Wiggle (1962), Air Blaster (1963), SuperBall, (1965), Silly String (1969), SuperElasticBubblePlastic (1970) and Trac-Ball (1975).
“We're always seeking what we call ‘the magical degree of amazement’ in our products,” Knerr said of the partners' key qualification for a potentially stand-out plaything in a 1966 interview in Popular Science. “We want people to exclaim, ‘What was that?’ or ‘Gee, I never saw anything like that before.’”
Knerr was a fun and gregarious outdoorsman. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, traveling, doing. He and Melin created the most successful outdoor toy company in history. Maybe our current epidemic of childhood obesity would be calmed, if not cured, if we encouraged kids to get outside and play. Knerr was proud to know that the playthings he helped popularize continue to play a part in that initiative.
2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Wham-O. A few months ago, I asked Richard Knerr what he thought of his little slingshot business lasting 60 years. “Has it been that long? Wow!” said the co-founder of the Fun Factory. “Spud and I had a lot of fun doing what we did. We loved it.”
About the Author: Tim Walsh interviewed Richard Knerr in December for the forthcoming Wham-O Super Book from Chronicle Books.
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