RIP Wham-O co-founder Richard Knerr

Richard Knerr, the co-founder of Wham-O has died at the age of 82.

Wham-O was a toy inventor’s dream; a company where garage tinkers could show up with wacky ideas and watch them turn into national fads in a matter of months. Wham-O was the birthplace of some of the most memorable and innovative toys in history: the Super Ball, Silly String, the Frisbee, the Slip ‘N Slide, and the Hula Hoop. Wham-O was a perfect blend of California entrepreneurship, space-age optimism and postwar manufacturing methods. It was, in short, the best toy company ever.

Founded as a mail-order slingshot business in 1948 by childhood buddies Rich Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin, Wham-O didn’t really take off until 1957, after the partners spotted a man on the beach throwing a plastic flying saucer. They bought the idea for $1 million, changed its name from the Pluto Platter to the Frisbee and had an instant hit on their hands. A year later, inspired by a friend’s account of seeing Australian children twirling wooden hoops around their waists, Knerr and Melin made a plastic version, dubbed it the Hula Hoop, and sold 100 million in 16 months. Fueled by the gusher of cash rushing in from the sales of these two items, Wham-O became a 1,000-employee company, occupying 8 buildings in a 171,000-square-foot complex in San Gabriel, California. Wham-O developed between 40 and 50 new toys a year. Some were hits, like the Superball; others were flops, like the $119 build-your-own bomb shelter.

When Knerr and Melin sold the business to Kransco in 1982, the company crashed. It was bought by Mattel, which killed off all the products except the Hacky Sack, the Hula Hoop, and the Frisbee.

Here's the Los Angeles Times obit: Link

UPDATE: YouTube videos of Wham-O toy commercials:
• Super Ball and Super Elastic Bubble Plastic
• Wheelie Bar
• Water Wiggle
• Silly String
• Bubble Thing

• [Stefan Jones]

  “The” superball may be discontinued, but close replicas can be had in any dollar store.

• [Takuan]

  video killed balls, hoops etc.

• [lenore]

  I have two genuine Wham-O SuperBalls: pictures here and here. Yes, you can still get them at good toy stores. And they really bounce better than knock-offs – excellent stuff, that Zectron.

  Thanks to Jimwich for the salute – I feel a little better now.

• [Anonymous]

  Super Balls are still being made and sold by Wham-O.
  Also, when Kransco bought Wham-O, they took the company to the next level, added several other toy and sporting goods companies and then sold the Kransco Group Co’s to Mattel. After a few years of messing around with these companies, Mattel kept some of the divisions and sold off other divisions (including Wham-O) to mostly individuals or investors.
  Wham-O is alive and well today, celebrating their 60th anniversary.

• [OM]

  “A fitting tribute would be to hunt up old Wham-O TV commercials on YouTube and such.”

  …Yo wish be’s my command:

  Wham-O Wheelie Bar:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE-txZE2ggg

  Wham-O Super Baloon:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCgRLbA7dfg

  Wham-O Water Wiggle:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZeS6vF1-M

  Wham-O Firecron Super Ball & Super Elastic Bubble Plastic Joint Commercial:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pErbVm-LGI&feature=related

  Wham-O Desert Storm Booby Trap Foiler:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVrxddbiow4&feature=related

  Wham-O Bubble Thing:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbPS-ntCJk

  Wham-O Frisbee (1981):
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUJWmr_5zUM

  Russian Snickers Frisbee Commercial
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-eq0v9779w&feature=related

  …And that’s pretty much what’s out there right now on a five-minute YouTube search.

  Other Videos:

  AOHell Video of Water Wiggle & Slip’n'Slide:
  http://video.aol.com/video-detail/water-wiggle-and-slip-n-slide-by-wham-o/3947092836

  DailyVision late 60′s Frisbee & Hula-Hoop Commercial:
  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38jzh_pub-whamo-frisbee-hula-hoop_ads

  Another version of the previous clip:
  http://www.encyclomedia.com/video-wham_o_hula_hoop_.html

  Other Links:

  Official Wham-O Website:
  http://www.wham-o.com/

  Article on Wham-O and its origins:
  http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9918/whamo_toys_favorite_fads_of_the_50s.html

  Wikipedia Entry (Does not appear to have been molested by trolls, rogue admins, or Limey schoolpunks pretending *not* to be trolls):
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wham-O

  1978 Article on the Water Wi9ggle recall:
  http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml78/78020.html

  1980 Article on how Wham-O got it’s water groove back:
  http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml80/80007.html

  Big Red Toy Box’s Article on Wham-O:
  http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toynfo.pl?whamoindex

  Boston Globe article on Wham-O:
  http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2005/08/21/toy_story/

  The Toy Guy takes on the Slip’n'Slide!
  http://www.thetoyguy.com/toyreviews/Archives/whamo_wet.html

  Remember Wham-O’s Magic Window? You weren’t doing the right drugs when you owned one, then:
  http://www.theplaymakers.com/welcome/archives/000108.html

  1965 Vintage Super Ball on eBay; Provider OM bids one quatloo:
  http://cgi.ebay.com/1965-Vintage-WHAM-O-Super-Ball-Atomic-Super-Ball-Toy_W0QQitemZ260202601542QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0801130938a9442

  M$N $hopping has a whole $hitload of Wham-O products listed:
  http://shopping.msn.com/results/toys/bcatid6436/wham-o/2-129661/forsale?text=category:toys+Brand:Wham-O

  Would you believe Wham-O owns the rights to using the color yellow on water slides? Read’n'Heed, MAKE-types:
  http://www.hewm.com/en/news/press/press_3344.html

  Holy Frak! Wham-O has a Peeps Maker Machine? We’re doomed!
  http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/4568.shtml

  Great Idea Finder’s article on the Hula-Hoop:
  http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/hulahoop.htm

  Some 12-year-old’s essay on Wham-O:
  http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/ict/2learn/mmspeight/fifties/research/zoe.htm

  Another essay on the Hula-Hoop from someone who actually owned one – and probably still suffers from the hernia:
  http://www.loti.com/fifties_toys/The_hula_hoop.htm

  Blog Entry lamenting Wham-O getting bought out by the Red Chinese:
  http://www.latdamuseum.org/weblog/2006_01_01_archive.html

  History of the Frisbee – Includes Patent Drawings:
  http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980218.htm

  NYT Article on Flying Toys:
  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6D6153CF933A15755C0A963958260

• [Stefan Jones]

  I was just looking at the Wham-O site. “The Original Superball” is available.

  Who came up with the notion that it was banned?

• [JIMWICh]

  A great man has died. Let us have a moment of silence.

  And now, a 21 Wham-O Air Blaster salute.

  PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!! PWUHHH!!

• [OM]

  …And then there’s the reason the Super Balls were discontinued: kids were getting injured when they threw the damn things down and they recoiled back into their eyes! Just like the Air Blaster caused eardrum ruptures!

  All those great toys lost because some parents just couldn’t accept that their kids were too stupid to survive Darwinism :(
  

• [obdan]

  Someone mentioned that the superball was unsafe. Does anyone remember those damn clacker things?
  Two hard (very) plastic balls hanging from strings and controled by a ring that you held between your fingers. You would swing them up and down and they would collide and bounce off each other until someone got badly hurt, or something was damaged.

• [Anonymous]

  As one who knew Rich – he will be sorely missed. A wonderful man!!!

  My husband was one of the kids in the 1960′s commercials and called Rich “Uncle Rich” and Spud “Uncle Spud.” His father was one of the many who helped Wham-o prosper. Rich impacted his life like no other. I know he will miss him so very much.

  Now, the big three are gone – Uncle Rich, Uncle Spud and my husband’s dad.

  Leslie

• [Coaster]

  I think it was the last paragraph where it says Mattel killed off all but the Hacky Sack, Hula Hoop and Frisbee.

• [Takuan]

  yep, I remember Clackers – a rip off of good old conkers – played with chestnuts, or dead rats depending on your address

• [jere7my]

  Stefan Jones: I believe that “original Superball” is 1 11/16″ diameter, presumably to reduce the choking risk. The Superballs I remember (and the kind my cat likes to roll under the bookcases) are under an inch in diameter. Details here.

• [Harlo]

  This is sad, but it also makes me really want to go and re-watch The Hudsucker Proxy. You know, for kids!

• [EricT]

  You know,for the kids.

• [Peter]

  I would like to see the $119 build your own bomb shelter toy if somebody happens to have one.

• [Stefan Jones]

  A fitting tribute would be to hunt up old Wham-O TV commercials on YouTube and such.

  Also, throw a Frisbee up on your roof.

• [jere7my]

  *lightbulb moment* That’s why it was so damn hard to find another Superball for my cat to play with! She loves the one I had lying around from twenty years ago, but it keeps rolling under things and getting lost.

• [tomic]

  Oh man! Whaaaaayyyy… you kids these days! Have no f’@(!!!*ing idea! just how powerful those original Superballs were!! It was like giving us HANDGUNS!

  The things called “superballs” available to day or the last few decades are not even a pale shadow thereof…

  THe originals were a nasty black color, and if you dug into them with your fingernail, a chunk would SPRING OUT. They often broke into chunks… each of which bounced insanely…

  But a 10 year old could fling one on a concrete or asphalt surface such that it would clear THE ENTIRE SCHOOL BUILDING and disappear out of site.

  Huge bruises were the minimum result of super-dodge-ball. Blood was possible. Totally kool!!!

  This is like 1965, 1966 or so.

  Knerr, though I had no clue at the time, being only 10, 11 then, was a hero for making all that cool stuff.

  I really doubt the original superball is available. I am sure there is a product called “The Original Superball!” though. I’d buy one (or more… hand them out to neighbor kids…) in a minute!

  Kids — boys and girls — need more controllable danger in their lives. POOR! kids these days!

• [Cpt. Tim]

  I would also like the bomb shelter, but it just wouldn’t feel the same without the irrational fear of the red hoardes.

• [Takuan]

  no need for reds under your bed, now you can have muslims in the cellar

• [NeonCat]

  Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball…

  Damn Mattel…

• [Stefan Jones]

  Cripes, that Wheelie Bar looks insanely dangerous.

  * * *

  The Wham-O site has a lot more than the Hacky Sack, Hulu Hoop, and Frisbee. Besides the Superball and Super Slide, there is all sorts of sports-related stuff.

  Nothing really strange and geeky, though. It’s kind of a jock toys outfit now. I doubt they’ll every come up with an insanely popular fad toy again.

  * * *

  I think I remember the Wham-O slingshot. A sturdy Y-shaped wooden handle with slots to thread a really thick rubber band through.

• [Stefan Jones]

  Ah, yes, here it is:

  Wham-O Slingshot

• [franko]

  what’s that? superballs were discontinued??

  man, a part of me just died. : (