I was just thinking, do we have a yoyoing hall of fame? I believe there are such titles as “national grand master” and what not. Who would you see in the Hall of fame?
With my little knowledge of the yoyoing community (which has plenty of holes in it, I admit) I’d see something like that
As for today I’d see
Donald Duncan
Steve Brown. Lifelong yoyo ambassador, inventor of 5A
André Boulay. the man who, basically by himself, taught the world how to throw
Hiroyuki Suzuki, not sure exactly why, but I’d definitely see him up there.
Tom Kuhn, well, he’s Tom Kuhn!
And as probable “future” (even tho it’s not really “present”) inductees
Ben McPhee, the face of yoyo factory, the man with a vision
Brandon Jackson, the face of duncan yoyos, guardian of the temple
Augie Fash, for being Augie Fash (seriously!) all over the world. Making it a better place.
Ettore Ferro, probably the craziest yoyo designer that ever walked the earth
Ed Haponik
I picked those guys because they’re widely known and renowned even to those who just picked up yoyoing a week ago. In my eyes, they dedicated their lives (or close enough) to make this sport and art known all around the globe. They define yoyoing as we know it today, they pretty much built it from scratch, over a very long period of time (more than 20 years for some)
thought about him, actually, and a few others (general yo comes to mind), but then I don’t think they’re “famous” enough for the hall of “fame”. But Difeo did come up with KK bearings didn’t he? that’s significant!
Ed haponik is amazing! I love his videos and his graceful style of play. Would love to meet him sometime. And definetly Andre. There are so many good players out there but there are some that stand out.
perhaps the thread title should be - yo yoin’ hall of fame - since 2009
Mr. Difeo is one of the people that started the metal age of yo yoin’. how is this not significant…and more so, how can this be refuted? but once again…imho.
also - he did alot more than just come up the kk bearin’. a lil’ research into yo yoin’ history will make this evident.
There is many people that could be placed within a “Hall Of Fame” type of pedestal. What you have to consider is their contributions, achievements and ect.
When you look at a competition stand-point you can consider great throwers like Hiroyuki Suzuki, Jensen Kimmit, Yuuki Spencer. All of them have won the ultimate “world title” as far as 1a goes. World champions should be considered into such a fray.
If anything, you should really consider Johnny Devalle. World winner in 2003, hit the trend of many slack, technical, the re-innovator of grinds and stalls. Then of course there is greats like Paul Escolar, Gary Longoria, Spencer Berry who all push 1a to the furthest it could go in the course of 2 years after the millennium hit. Doctor Popular founded Moebius and Sumo but also was extremely experimental with his tricks.
Think about it. Its a give and take for what is considered hall of fame material.
well the point of a HOF is not to recognize the “best”, rather the “excellence” over a long period of time.
I believe, but this is up for debate, that a player like Johnnie Delvalle maybe brought more to the table than say Jensen Kimmit, over a longer period of time.
truly, I don’t know, it’s, by no means, my place to “work on a yoyo HOF”, I was just throwing the idea out there.
it’s not (IMO) about the “best players” (then it would be just as easy as getting all 1A world champs), but to those who made the most, those who made a huge difference and changed the face of yoyoing.
in that regard, Frank Difeo might have made a lot of things. but the very fact that many “uneducated” players such as myself don’t really know about it would, in my opinion, rule him out. But even I could follow the “yoyo career” of Ben Mcphee and take it back to the late 80s early 90s with him being active up until today. Obviously I could mention Hans as well, but obviously ben has been the “face” of YYF.
Do I believe that Frank Difeo deserves to have his work more widely recognized, certainly yes. Do I believe it was important, certainly yes. But I couldn’t (which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist) track back his career very far back and I don’t really know what he’s doing right now either.
obviously such things are highly subjective and usually decided by a committee rather than a single person, but yea, it would be nice to have a somewhat official yoyoing hall of fame
I have thought the same thing before about a yoyo hall of fame. I think we need an official one with a committee and such. Also, where’s the Shinji Love? If Suzuki deserves a place (Which I think he does) then Mr. Saito is an easy pick for the Hall of Fame.
Many “awards organizations”, such as Sports and other Hall of Fame-type organizations, as well as things like the Academy of Motion Pictures and Scienes, the National Academeny of Recording Arts and Sciences and other organizations do routinely award technology advances, companies who contribute as well as individuals who contribute to the furthering of the arts and sports in question.
I don’t think it’s out of line for a company like Dif-E-O to be awarded something for the KK bearing if an agreed upon committee that accurately represents the community feels that this is worth the merit. But the award should be very specific, such as the 'Dif-E-O KK Bearing" Of course, entire companies could be awarded. I think Duncan should get an award for pretty much starting this whole thing. That’s also significant.
I’d say Guy Wright…the letter blue is amazing
and Jason Lee, did tricks ahead of his time
Tom Kuhn, as someone else said
I guess Yuuki Spencer??? :-\ I dunno, but he did win worlds at 13. Thats at the very least noteworthy
I hope this doesn’t seem too far out there, but I would nominate Brett Grimes for such a list.
I think HSYY streamlined “slow-mo” trick tutorials. When Andre’s tutorials needed supplementing, I always found myself at HSYY.
Like someone said before, the list should not be limited to people who have enjoyed success in contests, but have made excellent contributions to the community. To me, Brett Grimes is one of those people.
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
14
My inspiration,love,and an awesome guy! ANd elephark,thanks for the Blue Flying Angel tutorial! I could not figure it out now I just can’e get into a good huey! ???
