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MEMORIES:
pardus remembers...I wanted one of these as a kid, but never got one. When I was in university, I went to ... More »
Posted on 08/12/08
Manufacturer:
Perhaps no toy so aptly demonstrates the truth of the mantra that from great pain comes great pleasure. The Hacky Sack known and loved the world over began as the therapeutic brainchild of Mike Marshall in 1972. Slowed by a painful knee surgery, Marshall came up with the idea as a means to help him gain back some flexibility and increased strength in his ailing joint. Marshall took a small handful of beans and placed them inside of a stitched up cloth sack. The idea was to bounce the sack up in the air repeatedly using anything but the arms or hands. He called the game “Hack the Sack.”
Before long, Marshall’s method of physical therapy garnered the attention of John Stalburger. As the two men began to play the game, it dawned on them that they were bouncing a potential toy land mine. They branded their toy “Hacky Sack” and began selling them.
Tragedy struck in 1975 when Marshall died from a heart attack, but undaunted, Stalburger continued to promote their game, even going so far as to create the National Hacky Sack Association. In 1983, he sold the license to reputed toy manufacturer Wham-O, giving it a home with the best marketing and advertising available. The trusted name of Wham-O sent Hacky Sacks out of stores and onto playgrounds everywhere, and before long, the 1980s had yet another iconic sight on its hands: the sight of a ring of children booting a small bean-filled sack back and forth to each other.
But while Hacky Sack’s cultural recognition resided largely in school yards and hallways, the game itself actually began to expand across the globe. Through the work of the National Hacky Sack Association, footbag became an official sport. Part volleyball, part badminton, footbag became an international phenomenon. The traditional bag bouncing back and forth became dubbed Freestyle Footbag, and while still seen in schools everywhere, professionals entertain thousands yearly with expertly choreographed routines, tricks, and crowd-pleasing antics at Footbag competitions everywhere.
Today, the World Footbag Association recognizes three hundred fifty-five clubs in thirty-five countries. Its popularity combined with its versatility prompted Wham-O to develop several kinds of colorful Hacky Sacks to fit the athletic occasion, including the soccer ball-impersonating Striker, the hand-sewn, three-panel Impact, and the hand-woven, rainbow-colored Freestyle.
Whether for leisure or international competition, history argues that the Hacky Sack is good medicine.
