I showed a video of Tom Smothers to the kids in the school club. They laughed and wanted to know, “Who is this guy?” A few commented on how simple the tricks were and some even used the word “lame.” I supplied the wood axle yoyo’s and challenged them to do those same “lame” tricks.
Mass failure! Now Tom has new respect from some very young players that have been honing their skills with fixed wood axle yoyos.
Tom Smothers was the only person I ever saw really yo when I was a kid. I grew up after all the Duncan demonstrators and before the internet so it was Tom alone that brought me to yoyoing! On occasion I see newer throwers put him down but he will always have my gratitude.
This thread is for those that experienced Tom not as lame but as inspirational. Post your stories, pics and such, here regarding Tom.
Those kid’s that you were talking about just don’t understand that that was what yoyoing was a while ago. That style of play he does is definitely very entertaining, especially to people that have never seen yoyoing. Again, the kids think it’s “lame” cause it’s not what they are used to seeing in yoyo tricks. But anyways, Tom Smothers is awesome!
Tom Smothers has been and will always be my fav player. He is the reason why I still pick up a yoyo today. I only hope that I get the privilege to meet him some day before he passes on.
One of the times I was in the paper for yoyoing a lady called. She was 85 and wanted to give me a vhs tape and tom smothers yoyo both in mint condition and from her recently deceased husband. I know that doesn’t seem like much but it ment a lot to me since it was sentimental to her and she gave it to me.