Tramampoline!

April 9, 2010 5:14 PM

International Gymnast Magazine reports the passing of trampoline inventor George Nissen, whose brainchild trained World War II pilots, transformed into an Olympic sport, and became a pop culture fixture.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot (27 comments total)

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posted by seanmpuckett at 5:17 PM on April 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

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posted by brundlefly at 5:18 PM on April 9, 2010

See, I heard he fell and ended up in Mayo clinic.

(Doctor said it was a hell of a bounce.)
posted by found missing at 5:20 PM on April 9, 2010

Please let me be the first reformed Phish head to post a "You Enjoy Myself" trampoline video.


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Many summer afternoons were spent on my crazy neighbors' giant trampoline. They would put their (poor, poor) golden retriever on it.
posted by HeroZero at 5:39 PM on April 9, 2010

Let's not forget the joy he brought to wild foxes everywhere.
posted by Kikkoman at 5:47 PM on April 9, 2010

. and up
posted by parmanparman at 5:50 PM on April 9, 2010

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......
posted by lobstah at 6:14 PM on April 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Homer, this is terrible!

(Children sprawled out like wounded soldiers in Gone With the Wind)
posted by evilcolonel at 6:19 PM on April 9, 2010

He lived by the spring and he died in the spring.

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posted by hal9k at 6:42 PM on April 9, 2010

This is going to be one of those very fun threads.
posted by humannaire at 6:47 PM on April 9, 2010

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Exact scheduling is still up in the air.
posted by hal9k at 6:48 PM on April 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

We could never have a trampoline or ride on a three wheeler when I was a kid, because my mom was an E.R. nurse.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:48 PM on April 9, 2010

Oh come on - he isn't dead! I'm sure he'll bounce back.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:54 PM on April 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

The trampoline is one of those things that is so great and so everpresent, it's hard to imagine the device not being invented, or even needing to be invented in the first place. In the same line of thinking, the guy who invented boxed wine also just passed away.

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posted by mccarty.tim at 6:59 PM on April 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

A friend once told me of driving through rural Illinois, endless miles and miles of flat, and watching Amish folk, in their plain clothes and modest hats, jump on a trampoline, more and more clearly as they approached from the horizon. The image has stuck with me since then and I never even saw it with my own eyes.
posted by idiopath at 7:03 PM on April 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

At least his checks never bounced.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:09 PM on April 9, 2010

Oh come on - he isn't dead! I'm sure he'll bounce back.

Both of you are jumping to conclusions.
posted by hal9k at 7:35 PM on April 9, 2010

via boing boing?
posted by longsleeves at 8:08 PM on April 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

We could never have a trampoline or ride on a three wheeler when I was a kid, because my mom was an E.R. nurse.

I knew a guy who was paralyzed from the neck down after a trampoline stunt that wasn't nearly as awesome as his teenage brain told him it would be. The last time I saw him was when I drove past his house out in the country. He was watching from his wheelchair as his younger siblings jumped on the same damn trampoline that nearly cost him his life.

Those things must be awesome.
posted by The Potate at 8:18 PM on April 9, 2010

The first link seems to be overloaded, this LATimes link seems good.

My dad bought us a trampoline from the original Nissen shop in Cedar Rapids. I totally ruined my back for the rest of my life, doing stunts on that damn thing. And I had loads of fun doing it.

Rest in peace, George. Your eccentric weirdo idea is now a permanent part of world culture and will live on forever.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:49 PM on April 9, 2010

_..^.. _..^.. _..^.. _..^.. _..^..
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:00 AM on April 10, 2010

Me too, spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints. Mom was a pediatrician. There was a long list of stuff I wasn't allowed to do that just seems reasonable today, maybe even charming in its fussiness, yet at the time it was SO NOT FAIR and GOD, MOM, JEEZ.

At the top of that list was the trampoline. Still, I got air time at the houses of people who didn't know my mom's issue with it. The bright, light joy of jumping above the fence!
posted by Countess Elena at 6:42 AM on April 10, 2010

Tumbling Device - U.S. Patent 2,370,990 filed 1941
posted by XMLicious at 8:02 AM on April 10, 2010

I was completely ready to conclude that the Olympic sport was lame, but it's totally not. It's actually pretty impressive.
posted by oddman at 9:08 AM on April 10, 2010

It breaks my heart that I am unable to link to a video of Rob Lowe's hilarious Dateline NBC parody on SNL. So here's a transcript:
"The trampoline... children's play toy or vicious backyard killer?"
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:12 AM on April 10, 2010

Here's a link to a story about Mr. Nissen's death in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, his (and my) hometown paper; it contains a book chapter on him and a video link. Also, a profile from 1999.
posted by epj at 10:46 AM on April 10, 2010

There was a long list of stuff I wasn't allowed to do that just seems reasonable today, maybe even charming in its fussiness, yet at the time it was SO NOT FAIR and GOD, MOM, JEEZ.

care to share those? I'm curious :D


My dad worked at a pool and spa company when I was little, and one of the things they sold was trampolines. I spent so much time on that thing growing up. Incredibly, neither me nor my siblings or friends ever got seriously hurt. Friction burn was about the worst thing we ran into.
posted by rubah at 9:49 PM on April 10, 2010