Very excited to have up next the one, the only, Steve Brown!! Thanks @unklesteve for taking the time to answer some questions, really appreciate all our conversations!!!
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
That story is interesting but I start to wonder how many more times people want to hear it ha ha. I think at this point the definitively easier version is this: I was homeless and needed a job, and lied my way into a gig assembling yoyos. If that sounds remotely interesting to anyone, you can hear me tell the much fuller version of that story here: YoYo Player Podcast Episode 1
What trick are you working on currently and what is your all time favorite trick?
I honestly barely yoyo anymore, and I miss it. I don’t actually see any yoyo players locally so it’s really only when I go to contests that I see anyone….and when I’m at contests I’m pretty busy either with contest business or Caribou Lodge business. I definitely feel that lack of other players to teach/inspire/push me and yoyoing has become less of a solitary pursuit as I’ve gotten older and more of a social one. I moved on from the “something to prove” phase of yoyoing a really long time ago and so it’s rare that I just get an idea for a trick that I feel like I have to stop and work through.
All-time favorite trick
Probably this one. It feels amazing to do and it’s a deeply satisfying trick to watch yourself hit.
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
Right now it would be the Beater. I’d eventually like to make a titanium Beater and when that finally happens, that’ll be my “desert island yoyo”, but for now it’s just the regular 7075 Beater. Man, I love that thing.
What’s the most meaningful throw you have?
I have a Hummingbird “Nature in Motion” wooden yoyo that was the prize from the first contest I ever won when I was like 10 years old. My parents sent me to a day camp that was just down the street from where we lived and some guy came through and taught us five basic tricks and ran a contest at the end of the week. It was super easy stuff….Sleeper, Walk The Dog, Inside Loop, Around the World, and Trapeze. I did all five tricks on the first try and when he said “Ok you get one bonus if you have another trick you want to do for extra points” and I landed a clean Double of Nothing. I won the contest and that Hummingbird yoyo was the prize. I played it a lot that summer and beat that yoyo up pretty good and eventually it went into a box and I didn’t see it or think about it again until I was 19 and found yoyoing again out of necessity. I still compulsively buy those Hummingbirds everytime I see them pop up for sale and I think I have like 5 or 6 of them now but that first one is pretty special to me.
What kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
I play bass (decently) and ukulele (also decently) and guitar (terribly). I also have a small tech startup called Nervous that provides strategy and moderation for Discord servers for large brands. I enjoy reading although I’ve gotten out of the habit lately because I’m a workaholic and have a lot going on with Caribou Lodge that I’m trying to implement and am working on really growing Nervous. I’ve also really gotten into biking in the last year and have a Salsa Beargrease C Deore 11 that I really enjoy riding.
Favorite foods?
Unagi, tonkotsu ramen, adobo pork, dinuguan, chicken tinola, Culver’s Butter Burgers, and my favorite breakfast: two eggs over medium, cooked in chili crisp and served on extra crispy hash browns with rye toast.
Favorite movie?
I think I can narrow it down to Aliens, The Breakfast Club, Stripes, Stand By Me, and Roadhouse.
What does yo-yo mean for you. Expression, technical, art etc
I don’t think of it in terms of that anymore, to be honest. I used to devote a lot of time to trying to quantify it in my mind and these days it’s just something that used to be the biggest thing in my life and I can honestly say that in a lot of ways it saved me…so now I’m trying to provide that same opportunity for others. I guess if I had to pin it down I would say it’s a unique canvas that people can imprint all their own thoughts and ideas upon to shape yoyoing into whatever they need it to be for themselves.
Best yoyo memory?
Watching people compete at Worlds in the very first 5A division. That was absolutely wild.
What’s it been like to watch the growth of the community?
A lot like watching my kids grow up. There are players who I met when they were 13, 14 years old who now have families of their own. I’ve doing this since 1995, so almost 30 years. I’ve been yoyoing long enough that less than 20% of the competitors at the 2024 World YoYo Contest were even born when I started yoyoing. (And the Over-40 division accounts for most of those, ha ha)
If you couldn’t yo-yo what would you be doing?
Like, if I lost the ability to yoyo or if I had never learned?
If I lost the ability to yoyo I don’t know that my life would measurably change. I’d still be working on the IYYF & Worlds & Caribou Lodge and Nervous.
If I had never learned? Might have stuck with performing? I studied theater for a while before I starting yoyoing and wanted to continue with that.
What are your yoyo bad habits?
I change strings like every 5-6 minutes. I hate dirty string. That’s probably kinda wasteful.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
Don’t try to decide what yoyoing needs to be for you….just let it be whatever it is at that moment and accept that it’s great at filling the gaps. Let it be as much or as little as you need, and don’t be afraid to let it wax and wane in your life. Let it be part of you, not all of you.
What do you want to tell the world?
You should care more about other people’s well-being.
Thanks everyone, if there’s any questions you’d like asked, or people you’d like to see please reach out!
Edit: Big shout out to my friend @theendofcake for helping me learn to categorize and hyperlink!!
can’t wait to see who you do in the future.
