# Yoyo history **URL:** \ **Category:** General Yo-Yo\ **Created:** [March 28, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846 "2016-03-28T02:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thecranemaker](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/thecranemaker/32/67942_2.png) [@thecranemaker](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/thecranemaker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/1 "2016-03-28T02:40:48Z")
I’m doing a research paper on the history of yoyoing and would appreciate if you guys could help me find some resources on yoyoing. Such as who started the trend of horizontal yoyoing?, when did the change from cotton string to polyester string happen?, how being sponsor is the differences from not being sponsor?, etc. ---
**Author:** ![S3TH](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/s3th/32/260337_2.png) [@S3TH](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/S3TH)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/2 "2016-03-28T03:20:15Z")
This has some cool stuff in it. [http://www.yoyoskills.com/?p=312](http://www.yoyoskills.com/?p=312) ---
**Author:** ![BBBBB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@BBBBB](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/BBBBB)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/3 "2016-03-28T04:02:59Z")
Or try this: > **[History of the Yo-yo](https://yoyo.fandom.com/wiki/History_of_the_Yo-yo)** > > Alhough the yo-yo is an undeniably ancient toy there is no proof that it is the second oldest toy as claimed. However, very few records remain about its origins due to the fact people in the past have not considered yo-yos worth writing about. The... ---
**Author:** ![zozobraswife](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zozobraswife/32/1640_2.png) [@zozobraswife](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zozobraswife)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 12:03pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/4 "2016-03-28T12:03:05Z")
Cool idea for a paper! This reference isn’t as good as the one from BBBBB but it is useful: [http://www.thetoptens.com/innovative-yo-yos/](http://www.thetoptens.com/innovative-yo-yos/) And this article is fun: > **[Top 5 Most Egregiously Awful YoYos of All Time](https://yoyonews.com/2014/03/06/top-5-egregiously-awful-yo-yos-time/)** > > I’m not sure how many yo-yo’s I’ve played since I first picked up a Midnight Special in the late 80’s. In any case, the number has been significant enough for me to feel app… Lucky’s Collector’s Guide to 20th Century Yo-yos by Lucky Meisenheimer is a great resource and gets you up to 1998 or so.  If you don’t have a copy or can’t afford to order one, check with your librarian and ask for an interlibrary loan.  She/he can order it from another library if you have time. Tom Kuhn was very influential in making the bridge between the old style Duncans and the metal competition yo-yos that we have now.  There is a sticky thread here: > **[Chronology of Tom Kuhn Yoyos](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/forums/index.php/topic,40316.0.html)** > > Chronology of Tom Kuhn Yoyos 1976 - Dr. Tom Kuhn (TK) patented (applied to have patented) the No-Jive 3-in-1 Yoyo. 1977 - TK opened shop (ie, Tom Kuhn Yoyos). He first introduced the simple, one-piece (fixed-axle) “San Francisco Woodies. ... Apparently, he was the first to splash anodize a metal yo-yo with the old SB2s.  The site, [tomkuhn.com](http://tomkuhn.com), is run my someone other than Dr. Kuhn though and he is only remotely associated with it anymore.  Their customer service is not the best and detailed historical questions are unlikely to be answered. There is also a sticky thread here about the CLYW Peak:  > **[Copy of Bens Peak History Thread](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/forums/index.php/topic,67261.0.html)** > > Since someone had requested it earlier and I have it typed out I figured I’d post it here as well This is a copy of Bens Peak History thread from yoyonation since it appears some members are having difficulty accessing it Direct link to original... I was an English major in college and BBBBB is currently a science teacher.  If you’ll share a rough draft of your paper here before turning it in (and if it isn’t due tomorrow), I’ll be happy to check for typos.  BBBBB could probably offer teacherly advice and I imagine the group yo-yo mind would be helpful for fact checking. ---
**Author:** ![BBBBB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@BBBBB](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/BBBBB)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/5 "2016-03-28T13:02:04Z")
I would be happy to help however I can. Just let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Zorro](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zorro/32/206266_2.png) [@Zorro](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Zorro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/6 "2016-03-28T13:13:34Z")
This is a paragraph I wrote when I had a research paper two or three years ago. I do not remember the sources, so I would recommend that you do some research on these to confirm them. > [@](#): > > The first yoyos date all the way back to 500B.C. in Greece. There was also an old box with a picture of a young girl playing with a yoyo that turned up during the 1760s. By 1791, yoyos were big in Paris. They were made of glass and ivory and were called “joujou de Normandie”. The yoyo then became fashionable when a picture was taken of the Prince of Wales using one (the English called the yoyo a bandalore or quiz). In 1916, there was an article called “Filipino Toys” that coined the name “yo-yo”, which meant “come-come” or “to return” in Filipino. In the 1920s, Pedro Flores brought the first yoyos to the United States and started his own company called the Flores Yo-Yo Company in California. In 1929, a U.S. businessman, Donald F. Duncan, bought Flores’ company, and created Duncan, a widely-known yoyo company. Duncan sent professionals all over the world to demonstrate tricks. He was also the one who thought of looping the string around the yoyo instead of tying a knot around the axle, which created a humongous variety of tricks. In other words, he could be considered the father of modern-day yo-yoing. In 1932, in order to fight off imitators, Duncan trademarked the word “yo-yo” and started the first International Yoyo Contest in London in 1932. The winner of the first World Yoyo Contest was Harvey Lowe, a young Chinese boy of 13. Lowe was also the one who had taught the Prince of Wales to yoyo with one of the earlier models, which led to Pedro Flores and the Flores Yoyo Company, and Donald F. Duncan and the Duncan Yoyo Company. Since then, the World Yoyo Contest has been held every year in the United States. In 2014, the World Yoyo Contest will be held in Prague, Czech Republic. This is the first time that the World Yoyo Contest has been held outside of the United States, since 1932. ---
**Author:** ![doug77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@doug77](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/doug77)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/7 "2016-03-28T23:11:29Z")
^^ Flores was actually the one who popularized looping the string around the axle, not Donald Duncan. (Not that any teacher would know this, but just fyi) ---
**Author:** ![yoyodoc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/yoyodoc/32/48820_2.png) [@yoyodoc](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/yoyodoc)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 7:46am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/8 "2016-03-29T07:46:04Z")
> [@Zorro](#): > > This is a paragraph I wrote when I had a research paper two or three years ago. I do not remember the sources, so I would recommend that you do some research on these to confirm them. Well, I’ll tell you one thing. If you got a good grade on your research paper; prolly a good thing that your Instructor knew little about the actual history of yoyos, lol. Because your story has enough holes in it to sink a battleship😱 …and by the way; Yoyo has no ‘Island’ origin. It doesn’t mean: come come or to return or anything else. Many years ago I contacted the Philipine Historical Association; based in the Islands. They connected me to a Trio of ‘Elders’ specializing in any/all language-words-slang originating in the Philippine Islands. I asked if they could tell me the origin of the word Yo-yo? About 3 weeks went by… I almost forgot that I even called them😳 They got back to me and told me the word ‘Yo-yo’ does not mean Anything in any of the 8 major dialects of the Islands: Waray, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiliganon, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, or Tagalog. Period. Funny stuff…huh? ---
**Author:** ![neo\_nl\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@neo\_nl\_guy](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/neo_nl_guy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yoyo-history/79846/9 "2016-03-29T13:03:29Z")
this is a nice video with a personal view of the history "At age 75 years old, Glenn Godsey is the oldest competitive yo-yo team member in the world. He shares his thoughts on the evolution of yo-yo since the early 1940’s. " [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/uploads/yoyoexpert1/original/4X/9/a/2/9a2c703c7f30fdd7d7d3830aaaf6add3bbfcc381.webp "The Evolution of Yo-Yo. [2012 Short Doc]") ](https://vimeo.com/54175727)