Unsung and somewhat forgotten

Who are some of the people that are seldom, never, or occasionally recognized for having made a significant impact on the yo-yoing world. These people can be manufacturers, players, past or present, or just people that have went out of their way to spread the joy of yo-yoing.

I’m really hoping that some of you that work closely inside the yo-yoing world will be able to recognize and share some of the contributions these people have made so there’s a basic record of it on YYE.

For some reason, one of the very first names that came to my head is Frank Difeyo.

He was making exceptional metal yoyos in a time where full metal professional yoyos was first starting to come to in the yoyo world. His design work I am sure has inspired other people to make yoyos. The details he had for each yoyo release was superb. I love the simplistic packaging which showed how minimalism is like just like Onedrop.

and lets not forget the Konkave bearing. Pure genius and revolutionized play and brought about a new wave of bearings!

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I completely agree.

He was also kind enough to teach me many things about the construction of, and maintenance of bearings. He took the time when he certainly did not need to, and imparted some great and useful knowledge to me.

For that, I’m very grateful. He’s a class act.

All Difeyo yoyos are so heavy though. I want one but I’m not sure if I’d like any of them.

Frank Difeo stands out for me too, but someone I don’t think gets any credit is David Hall, and here’s why he deserves credit.

At the start of the boom (1998 or thereabouts) there was really only one big online yo-yo store. Dave had been selling a few products on his very small site, but decided he wanted to go all in and offer an alternative (which became Skilltoys.com). When he started Skilltoys, Dave was contacted by the other big store owner who wanted to collude on yo-yo pricing, keeping them high and not offering any discounts. The store owner had been used to basically doing whatever he wanted, with no competition. Dave refused and not only undercut every price but also offered coupons and later rewards points to his customers. The big owner wasn’t happy with this, and actually struck deals with a couple of manufacturers who forced Dave to stop discounting their products, or they wouldn’t sell to him.

Even up to the end Dave wouldn’t be part of this price fixing, and it stopped him from carrying a few product lines that he would have otherwise. He deserves credit for ending a monopoly and bringing a choice of stores to the masses.