NFL Hall of Fame Quiz: OK, sports fans. Where did the
following Hall of Famers go to college? Lance Alworth, Chuck
Bednarik, Bobby Bell, Fred Biletnikoff, Willie Brown and Buck
Buchanan (same school), Len Dawson, Dan Fouts, Ted
Hendricks, Jack Lambert, John Mackey, Ray Nitschke, John
Stallworth, Paul Warfield. This ought to keep most of you busy
and out of trouble for a while. Answer below.
Toy Stories
[The first two tales are new, the last two repeats from a few years
ago. All use Don Wulffson’s book “Toys! Amazing Stories
Behind Some Great Inventions” as the main source.]
Slinky
In 1945 engineer Richard James was working at a Philadelphia
shipyard for the Navy, which had asked him to develop a
stabilizing device to prevent a ship’s instruments from pitching
and rolling with the waves. His first thought was ‘springs,’ so he
tried all manner of them, different shapes and sizes, but none
worked.
Then one day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental
models off a shelf and instead of it plopping down it “walked
down” coil by coil, end over end, onto a stack of books, then a
desktop, then a chair, and finally onto the floor. Each time he
did it the same thing happened.
Excited, James went home and he and his wife, Betty, tried it in
all manner of places. Again, the same result. Betty thought it
was a toy, though Richard didn’t initially see it that way. But she
began looking through a dictionary for a name and settled on
‘slinky.’
The next year they borrowed $500 from 4 friends to have 400
Slinkys made, went from store to store, but found only a handful
that would stock even a few…and none of these sold.
Undaunted, and still convinced they had a supertoy on their
hands, Richard and Betty went to a manager at a large
department store, Gimbel’s. After begging the guy, he let them
demonstrate the toy right there and customers began to gather
around. Within a 90-minute period the entire stock of close to
400 was sold. A few years later Richard and Betty were
millionaires.
Today over 250 million Slinkys have been sold. But did you
know that about 80 feet of wire is in a standard Slinky and that
Slinkys were used in Vietnam? They were tossed over high tree
branches and used as makeshift antennas. Slinkys also make
good scarecrows, hung from a tree, swaying in the breeze.
Trivial Pursuit
Scott Abbott and Chris Haney both worked for a newspaper,
Scott as a sportswriter and Chris as photo editor. They also
loved to play Scrabble so on December 15, 1975 they’re in the
midst of a contest when they start discussing getting into the
game business. The issue was what kind? They decided it
should center around questions – all sorts of them. At first they
called it Trivia Pursuit, but Chris’s wife suggested Trivial Pursuit
and that stuck. [See the power of women in these two stories?!]
Scott and Chris formed a company and persuaded two others to
join them. Then they started borrowing from everyone they
knew and soon there were 34 investors (including a copyboy
who borrowed the money from his mother).
The total pool was $40,000 and with that they rented space for
manufacturing and packaging. But they couldn’t really pay any
wages so Scott and Chris gave out stock instead.
The first 1,100 sets cost $75 each to manufacture, which the guys
then tried to sell to retailers for $15. Obviously, this was a major
money-losing operation and by 1982 Scott and Chris were deeply
in debt. [You can see that as opposed to the Slinky tale, Trivial
Pursuit was slower in getting going.]
But Scott and Chris still refused to give up and they began
contacting every game company in America. Only form-letter
rejections came back, with some saying all the games were
produced “in-house, by our own staff.” Finally, on the verge of
packing it in for good, Selchow & Righter expressed interest and
a meeting was arranged.
S&R liked it so much they hired a PR consultant to launch an ad
campaign. Coincidentally, it was now 1983 and 1,800 toy buyers
were in New York for the annual toy fair so S&R sent brochures
and copies of the game to all before the show. Then they mailed
sets to actors, actresses, basically anyone that could create some
buzz. The effort paid off and word of mouth took over. By late
1983, 3.5 million sets of Trivial Pursuit were sold. 20 million in
1984. Today, total sales are approaching $2 billion.
Mr. Potato Head
There once was a chap by the name of George Lerner who had
seen everything when it came to his kids playing with their food
and nothing worked when he asked them to stop. But one
evening, Lerner, a model maker for a toy manufacturing
company, decided that instead of trying to get his kids to behave
he would play with the food himself. So he grabbed a few
potatoes, got some bottle caps and thumbtacks for the eyes and
mouth and added a strawberry for the nose. Well, the kids
thought that their dad was the funniest man around.
George then began to make plastic molds for eyes, ears, and
noses and called them ‘Funny Faces For Food,’ but when he took
his kits to food companies, no one was interested. More than 2
years passed before a cereal outfit signed George to a contract for
his idea, paying Lerner $5,000 (it was the early 1950s, thus a fair
sum for the times) and the breakfast food folks used Funny Faces
as a premium in the box.
Several months later George received a call from Henry
Hassenfeld and his son Merrill, the owners of Hasbro Company.
They had seen Funny Faces and wanted to buy the idea from
Lerner and form a partnership, but there was the issue of George
having already sold the rights to the cereal guys.
But Henry and Merrill didn’t give up and they offered the
company $2,000, plus George had to pay back his $5,000. The
cereal guys stupidly accepted. George Lerner then went into
partnership with Hasbro and soon thereafter he was a millionaire
as the product was given a new name…Mr. Potato Head.
Silly Putty
During World War II there was a severe shortage of natural
rubber, so the military asked General Electric if they could come
up with a synthetic substitute. At the lab in New Haven,
Connecticut, James Wright was put to the task. He tried to come
up with something using every possible chemical in the table, but
nothing worked until he mixed boric acid and silicone oil (kids…
don’t try this at home without first asking your parents for
permission). Together, these two formed a rubbery compound.
Wright then started playing with the stuff and realized that when
he tossed it on the floor it bounced higher than normal rubber.
He could also stretch it and it held up in extreme temperatures
without cracking, plus the compound was able to lift words and
pictures off of newsprint.
Wright certainly had something, but just what became a source
of amusement around the halls of G.E. because his invention did
everything but what it was intended to do, that being a substitute
for rubber. The problem was the stuff didn’t get hard enough.
Soon Wright’s compound was given names like Nutty Putty,
Bouncing Putty, and Bouncing Blubber. But bottom line, this
was viewed as the most worthless invention in the history of G.E.
Years after the war, however, James Wright’s boss suggested
that a contest be held to find a use for Bouncing Putty (the formal
name at this time), but no one came up with a good idea. The
boss even had Wright ship the putty to the world’s top scientists
and they didn’t have any success either.
Then one evening in 1948, Wright went directly from the office
to a party and he happened to have some Bouncing Putty with
him. He showed the folks in attendance some of the putty’s
properties and one woman (there we go again), Ruth Fallgatter,
thought the stuff made for a great toy prospect.
Ruth, it turns out, owned a toy store herself, and along with Peter
Hodgson, who helped Ruth with advertising and sales material,
they decided to put a line for Bouncing Putty in their next
catalogue. Ruth and Peter thought the stuff was for adults, as per
the description.
“Do a thousand nutty things with Bouncing Putty. Comes in a
handy clear plastic case. A guaranteed hoot at parties! Price:
Only $2.00!”
Ruth and Peter ended up selling more Bouncing Putty than
anything else. Peter, in particular, was really high on the product
but he was also up to his eyeballs in debt. Somehow he
scrounged together $147 and bought as much of the putty from
G.E. as he could, then he hired students from nearby Yale
University to package it in plastic eggs. It was Hodgson who
then changed the name to Silly Putty.
Peter headed off to the New York Toy Fair in 1950 and
Doubleday Bookstores decided they would carry it. Then a few
months later a reporter for the New Yorker magazine wrote a
positive column about Silly Putty and the rest is history. Within
3 days of the article orders topped 250,000 and Hodgson became
another great American success story. When he died in 1976 his
estate was worth around $140 million.
But I never did find out if James Wright got anything out of it. I
imagine he was screwed on the whole deal.
Stuff
–Joe Horn, dirtball. While I won’t be handing out our Bar Chat
“Dirtball of the Year” awards until December 30, you can rest
assured New Orleans wide receiver Horn will get one of ‘em.
Like many of you I was appalled by his cellphone act on Sunday
night in the Saints’ game with the Giants and as New Orleans
coach Jim Haslett said, “The thing that bothered me more than
anything is he put himself before the football team.” The Saints,
after all, are struggling for a playoff spot and the ensuing penalty
for unsportsmanlike conduct could have been costly.
As for Horn he said “I don’t regret it. I was trying to bring
excitement to my (fans) and teammates.” What an ass.
I recently wrote of the Notre Dame – Michigan State game from
1966 and the utter lack of showboating on both sides. But
today’s “exuberance” has gotten way out of hand, whether it’s
Terrell Owens and his pulling out a Sharpie to sign a football
following a touchdown reception or Cincinnati’s Chad Johnson
and his holding up a sign last week after his TD, “Dear NFL:
Please don’t fine me again.”
The Daily News’ Mike Lupica wrote of how concerned NFL
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was with ESPN’s “Playmakers”
series and its portrayal of the league and yet you have someone
like Horn who wasn’t interested in how a penalty impacted his
team, rather all he cared about was his television close-up.
But at least New York Jets coach Herm Edwards called the
commissioner to complain (Giants coach Jim Fassel didn’t, the
loser). Edwards was fuming about the Horn display and later
told Lupica, “There is a line that’s supposed to be drawn in the
sand in this league…And when we cross it (we) smear a game
we’re all supposed to love.”
Boy, you never saw Jim Brown or Walter Payton pull this crap,
or Curtis Martin, today. And to extend it to another sport, can
you imagine Jerry West, John Havlicek or Clyde Frazier acting
out in this fashion? No way.
Then again we have this friggin’ rap culture to deal with. That’s
just my opinion…I know I’m right.
*Update…Fassel was fired Wednesday.
–Oops, a woman owned a Bengal tiger down in North Carolina
and it killed her 10-year-old son. Seems the woman was
working, the boy’s uncle was home looking after the kid, and the
tiger yanked the boy under a fence when the kid was shoveling
snow. The uncle heroically tried to rescue the lad but was too
late. He did, however, shoot the tiger. So all together now…
Why the hell do we let people in this country keep freakin’ tigers
as pets?!
–Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets is not one of the brighter
people on the planet and he’s been acting like a real moron
recently, as well as a jackass, blaming the media for reporting on
his post-game outburst (that reporters clearly heard) following
the Nets 47-point loss to Memphis the other day. He’s also
trying to get coach Byron Scott fired. Scott, a pretty classy guy,
has only led the team to the NBA Finals the last two seasons.
The game’s prima donnas, with an average salary of $4.9
million, have way too much power…especially considering the
product they then put on the floor sucks.
–We note the passing of former Chicago Blackhawks great Keith
Magnuson who was killed in an auto accident this week near
Toronto. [The driver, former Maple Leafs player Rob Ramage,
could be charged with manslaughter for being impaired.]
Magnuson played defense for Chicago from 1969-80 and even
though he only scored 14 goals in his entire career he was a two-
time all-star and one of the games grittiest and most colorful
performers. As my friend Trader George also noted, it’s
Magnuson gracing the best Sports Illustrated cover ever…the
black eye, teeth knocked out. A classic.
–In a New York Times survey, 61% of Americans are bothered
by steroid use by professional athletes. But those under 30 are
far less so…worrisome.
–Looking at the NFL standings, we have a real chance for some
sloppy playoff games at Kansas City, New England and
Philadelphia, each destined to hold at least one home game. A
blizzard or two would be pretty cool, as you sit back in your
warm home drinking frosties and scarfing down Chex Mix.
But then you have the old argument about New York or
Washington eventually hosting a Super Bowl and after this past
week’s Jets game was played in 5 inches of snow, the Times’
Dave Anderson said playoffs are one thing, since that’s part of
the home-field advantage, but you can’t take a chance the Super
Bowl is played before 10-20,000 people because of a northeaster.
[Yes, Harry K., we aren’t as hardy as you boys up in the Great
White North.]
–Back to the NBA and Portland’s Rasheed Wallace, he of the
$17 million contract. Wallace called the NBA “racist,” to which
commissioner David Stern replied, “(His comments were) a
hateful diatribe (that) was ignorant and offensive to all NBA
players.” To which I say, suspend Wallace for a year, Mr. Stern.
This is one of the truly despicable people on the planet.
[Pity the great fans in Portland who have to put up with this
garbage. Then again, they’ve been abandoning the team in
droves.]
–Former basketball great David Thompson finally received his
degree from North Carolina State this week, 30 years after
leading the team to the NCAA championship. He deserves a ton
of credit for hanging in there after self-destructing once he hit the
NBA due to his drug and alcohol abuse. [Thanks to Phil W. for
passing this along.]
–Ken S. from Nebraska relayed some info on the chaos in the
Cornhusker football program following the firing of coach Frank
Solich. Players are threatening to boycott practices for their
upcoming bowl game against Michigan State because the athletic
director, Steve Pederson, refuses to let them know what’s going
on with the search to replace Solich. The players are right to
be ticked. Of course this is all happening in the middle of the
final stretch for signing recruits. In other words, it could be a
tough few years coming up for the good citizens of Nebraska.
They could get surly…and launch an invasion south down
Interstate 35, through Kansas and on to Norman, Oklahoma.
[Ken is the one who took the great bike trip up to Alaska this
past summer. He’s planning another big effort soon, after he
buys a new BMW or Honda Gold Wing 1800.]
–Here’s a sad tale. A while back I wrote of Jets receiver Wayne
Chrebet and his battle with post-concussion syndrome following
a hit to the head in a game earlier this year. He appeared before
reporters on Tuesday and it wasn’t pretty. The New York Post’s
Mark Cannizzaro had this description.
“Chrebet, still sounding slightly groggy some two months after
sustaining the head injury that eventually ended his season,
forgetting a reporter’s question at one point after he’d already
begun answering it, spoke softly and was very poignant about the
uncertainty he faces.
“ ‘It’s a scary thing when you’re going along thinking
everything’s great and all of a sudden something that means so
much to you is taken away maybe for a long time, maybe for
good,’ Chrebet said. ‘It makes you realize how everything else in
your life can be taken away.’…
“Chrebet acknowledged (that despite previous concussions this
was the worst). ‘I didn’t realize it at the time, but a month later
when I started feeling better I started to realize, “Where have I
been the last month?” Talking to my friends and family and
teammates, they were like, “Man, we didn’t want to embarrass
you, but you really weren’t there.”
Chrebet is one of the truly good guys in the sport, especially
compared to the dirtballs discussed above like Joe Horn and
Chad Johnson. We wish him the best
–Tiger Woods, in an interview with Newsweek, discussing how
nervous he was when he proposed to the gorgeous, sexy,
Swedish bombshell Elin Nordegren.
“You don’t ever want to blow a special moment like that. If you
hit a great putt and you know it’s in, it’s in. But even if you say
it absolutely perfectly – those four words – you could still get
denied.”
Not being an expert myself in this matter I’m assuming the four
words he’s referring to are “Heineken or Coors Light?”
–Top ten television programs when “A Charlie Brown
Christmas” debuted on December 9, 1965.
1. Bonanza (NBC)
2. Charlie Brown (CBS)
3. Red Skelton (CBS)
4. Danny Thomas (NBC) tie
4. Lucy Show (CBS) tie
5. Walt Disney (NBC)
6. Gomer Pyle (CBS)
7. Andy Griffith (CBS
9. Man from U.N.C.L.E. (NBC) tie
9. Beverly Hillbillies (CBS) tie
*All drew 13.3mm to 17.6mm homes.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/17/66: #1 “Winchester
Cathedral” (The New Vaudeville Band…this one always gave
me the creeps) #2 “Mellow Yellow” (Donovan…ditto) #3
“Good Vibrations” (The Beach Boys)
*I’ve been listening to “Seal IV,” having previously purchased
Seal I and II. The verdict? Solid stuff. Very easy to listen to
and with that touch of funk that livens up any party filled with
40- and 50-somethings…without going overboard.
NFL Hall of Fame Quiz Answer: Lance Alworth (Arkansas),
Chuck Bednarik (Pennsylvania), Bobby Bell (Minnesota), Fred
Biletnikoff (Florida State), Willie Brown and Buck Buchanan
(Grambling), Len Dawson (Purdue), Dan Fouts (Oregon), Ted
Hendricks (Miami), Jack Lambert (Kent State), John Mackey
(Syracuse), Ray Nitschke (Illinois), John Stallworth (Alabama
A&M), Paul Warfield (Ohio State).
*Warfield averaged over 20 yards per reception 7 seasons in a
row.
**Otto Graham, RIP…more next week.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. 99% Christmas material, because I
paid for this site!
