Most influential yoyoers

General Yo-Yo
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I realize I don’t know so many important yoyoers. So I was thinking we should make a list of the most influential people in yoyoing from innovation in design to throwers who changed how we throw. I don’t know if 50 or 100 is a better number to shoot for. Not that they will be in a number order at all. I thought having this would be useful for everyone to learn about the world of yo. Maybe have a description with their name and a video link.

So please offer up who you think is essential to the list.

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For innovation i’d go with Ben Mcfee and yohans.
For competition Gentry Stein, Evan Nagao, and Shu Takada.

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For bringing tricks to anyone who wanted to learn - André Boulay.

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Steve Brown for tying a ball to the other end of the string.

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For tricks that got me into liking tech tricks in the beginning of yoyoing for me almost 2 years ago Andrew maider zach gormley and Takeshi Matsuura

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  • Jensen Kimmitt: 2009 - 2010 era Jensen influenced literally everyone.
  • Yuuki Spencer: regarded as the most technical player ever.
  • Jason Lee: popularized weave-motion tricks.
  • DocPop: creator of staple tricks like branding and many others.
  • Steve Brown: invented 5A.
  • Ed Haponik: creator of modern fixed axle play.
  • Zach Gormley: admired for his outside-of-the-box approach in his tricks.
  • Evan Nagao: probably the most skilled yoyo player in the world.
  • Mark Montgomery: admired for his organic, rythmic based yoyoing.
  • Hiroyuki Suzuki: rail combos, horizontal play and overall solid style that gained him multiple world titles.
  • Gentry Stein: made Freestyle Evaluation actually matter in yoyo contests.
  • Anthony Rojas: incredibly artictic yoyoing.
  • Paul Kerbel: horizontal innovator.
  • Bryan Figueroa: 4A / 1A innovator. Creator of Unknown.
  • Takahiko Lizuka: his technical suicide concepts are applied by almost every competitive player today.
  • Ryosuke Iwasawa: inventor of iconic lacerations.
  • Iori Yamaki: iconic competitive player.
  • Shion Araya: the first person to win two 1A world titles after Hiroyuki Suzuki.
  • Shinji Saito: the most condecorated yoyo player ever, and also the most skilled 2A player ever.
  • Shu Takada: incredibly skilled 2A player, which popularized the application of acrobatic stunts in yoyoing.
  • Andrew Bergen: laceration, whips and slacks innovator.
  • André Boulay: he probably taught you how to yoyo.
  • Jake Elliot: first person to beat Takeshi Matsuura in 5A at a world competition.
  • Takeshi Matsuura: 1A/5A demigod. His influence and importance carries probably the most weight in the community.
  • Spencer Berry: creator of iconic tricks like Rancid Milk, Enigma and Breath.
  • Hajime Miura: first person to win first place in two different divisions in a world contest.
  • Rei Iwakura: influential 4A player, soloham innovator.
  • Takahiko Hasegawa: inventor of soloham (if i’m not mistaken).
  • Hirotaka Akiba: chopstick trick innovator.
  • Garbkamol “Polo” Limangkul: laceration and slack tricks innovator. IG sensation.
  • Keiran Cooper: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Charles Haycock: 1A legend.
  • Nate Dailey: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Yuki Nishisako: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Connor Seals: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Ayumu Harada: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Alexis JV: popularized frontspin 1A play.
  • Tony Sec: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Tyler Severance: relevant 5A player.
  • John Ando: extremely influential 1A/2A player.
  • Riccardo Fraolini: 1A innovator.
  • Janos Karancz: 1A innovator who specializes on incredibly hard slacks and rejections.
  • Ahmad Kharisma: famous, well-rounded 1A player. Popular for his straightjacket style tricks.
  • Tessa Piccilo: incredibly technical 1A player.
  • Ann Connolly: yoyo personality.
  • Jason Liu: extremely influential 1A player.
  • Yamato Murata: influential 1A player, following the stylistic direction of Hiroyuki.
  • Ryuichi Nakamura: influential 1A player.
  • Yusuke Ootsuka: influential 1A player.
  • Quentin Godet: 4A innovator. Incredibly artistic yoyoing.
  • Daniel Tamariz: creator of “Cíclico” an alternative 1A style.
  • Ky Zizan: influential 1A player. Creator of Double Dragon.
  • Daniel Ickler: incredibly technical 1A player. Popularized Mobius.
  • Victor Gravitsky: influential 1A player.
  • Igor Galiev: influential 1A player.
  • Hidemasa Semba: influential 1A player. Creator of Hidemasa Hook.
  • Sebastian Brock: influential 1A player.
  • Alex Gallimore: influential 1A player. Popular for his frontspin style.
  • Adam Bottiglia: creator of Yotricks, the biggest yoyo tutorial repository on the internet. His work towards the pedagogic side of yoyoing has been of help to many people.
  • Drew Tetz: inventor of Kickflip, a revolutionary fixed axle trick.
  • Augie Fash: influential 1A player. Chopstick, agile play and plane-breaking innovator.
  • Luis Enrique Villaseñor: influential 1A player.
  • Harold Owens III: influential 1A player.

Will add more in the future.

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Wow that is allot of players you have on your list lol

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FROM
YOYO WIKI

Trick Innovator of the Year

The Trick innovator of the year award is given annually by the US National Yo-Yo Museum during the US National Yo-Yo Contest, and is presented by past recipients to an important developer of creative and influential new yo-yo tricks over the past year.

Recipients

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Lol I love how beating the god himself (Takeshi) makes him an influencer :rofl:

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What…no 2009??? Are you kidding me? Their were several deserving candidates you could choose from? Did G2 Jakes original partner Brent G.win the award but it was not bestowed on him? They just left it blank?

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Quite a lot of names without mentioning the godfather of yoyo that is Pedro Flores.

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Adam bogitilla??? Sorry if I spelt that wrong

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I really enjoyed reading your obviously well thought out list.

I have no doubt that 5 people giving their fairly comprehensive roundup; could name a slightly different variety of other players and their lists would still sound valid.

But your list is pretty solid; besides the fact that you missed about 3 dozen foundation players.

…Until I got near the very bottom.

You list Ann Connolly as a ‘yoyo personality’. Ann is much more than a yoyo personality. She is a very good player also.

I am not suggesting you deliberately under rated Ann. I mean; everybody on your list ‘is’ pretty much a ‘yoyo personality’.

And every single person on your list is at the very minimum; a good yoyo player.

Including Ann…

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Gabe Lozano somewhere on a list. Early innovator, and great work with the Old Sector Y site. To those of you not familiar with Sector Y, check it out. It was for many the first time they witnessed modern unresponsive/semi tricks.

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But he is missing just as many that should also be on the list

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Thanks everyone for the input on this. I plan to slowly compile a list as I learn about each person. It is going to make the list a lot better to separate into categories I think. More to come as I have time to work on it.

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It’s definitely not a complete list, I think he just compiled the ones that came to mind. While you could add more, it is still a pretty good list.

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Thinking is good…

Thanks for thinking…

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Yoyofactory much?

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