Throwing Down: An Apocryphal History of Yoyoing in America

Kevin Jones

2013

Throwing Down: An Apocryphal History of Yoyoing in America

Throw it down, big man,

Throw it down.

--Bill Walton, on something else, entirely

It’s the late 1020s, and Donald F. Duncan

Sits in a hotel lobby in Santa Barbara.

He’s already been owner of

Good Humor Ice Cream

And a parking meter company.

He’s made fortunes from both.

It’s good to be rich, especially good

To be rich and loved. Rich and hated,

Not so much. He’d like

To be rich and loved again.

*

Pedro Flores, hotel employee,

Walks across the palmed

And marbled floor,

A string in hand,

A wooden disk at

The end of the string.

He pulls; the disk rises.

He flicks his wrist:

The disk flies down the string.

And it comes back.

Duncan is fascinated.

You would be too.

*

Duncan and Flores talk.

It’s a toy from his native

Philippines, Flores explains.

“A yoyo,” he says, “means

‘It comes back.’ Most

Of the time.” Tells Duncan

It’s based on as traditional

Tribal hunting weapon.

The hunter sits in a tree,

Throws down a rock or log

On a string, stuns or dispatches

The potential lunch item. And

If you missed, you wind

The yoyo back and try again.

Or, if you merely stunned

Or pissed off the quarry,

Hope that it doesn’t

Climb trees. You would too.

*

Duncan buys the rights

To the toy—or thinks

He does—on the spot,

Flores thinks otherwise,

Thus giving lawyers for

Both men a half century

Of lucrative work.

Duncan leans back,

Smiles, starts dreaming

Big. Flores smiles,

Returns to his bell station,

Carves disks, twists string.

*

Sometime later, a little further

Up the coast, Duncan pays a visit

To William Randolph Hearst.

Inexplicably, he charms, or bullies

His way past security, past

The butler (Careful, that looks

Like it could be a weapon

In his hand), greets

The Big Man. Hearst

Is charmed by toys and

Games, charades, parlor

Tricks, useless, shiny

Gewgaws (Rosebud!),

Watches transfixed as Duncan

Spins and winds his way

Through his repertoire.

You would too.

*

“And best of all,” Duncan,

Smiling, a little breathless,

Pushes his point home:

“You can use it as a marketing

Tool!” “How?” wonders Hearst,

The fabled good and noble host,

Trying not to grab Duncan’s

Toy and attempt to Walk

The Dog. “Give one to your

Newspaper carriers for, say,

Ten new subscriptions.” “And?”

Hearst wonders, thinking how

He could do Around the World

And not destroy any artwork.

“Have them sell ten more and

You give them instructions

On how to make it work.”

*

Soon, it seems, every

Newsboy in the hemisphere

Is winding up and throwing

Down between newspaper

Tosses. And shortly after,

And well into the 1960s,

Every spring, schoolyards,

Town squares, small town

Radio and television

Stations are flooded with

Duncan Demonstrators—

Roping them in, stringing

Them along with gaudy tricks,

Sharp patter, holding classes,

Organizing tournaments,

Spreading the word,

Throwing it down,

Bringing it back.

*

Everyone of a certain age

Remembers these times,

Those tournaments. Ask

Your parents, your

Grandparents. They’ll

Remember --

How they dazzled them,

Nailed the championship,

Took home that patch

They were good. You

Would be too.

*

It’s the sixties, Duncan

Switches from wood

To plastic, traditionalists

Wring their hands. And

In the courts, Duncan

Repeatedly loses

To Flores and a host

Of other litigants,

Goes bankrupt.

Though much is lost,

Much remains:

Duncan Imperials and

Butterflies, even now,

In every grocery and

Toy store in the land.

And in the spring, that

Primal urge, to throw

It down, watch it

Wind back up.

*

Eight Basic Contest Tricks as

Listed in the 1950 Duncan Manual,

Along with Practical Suggestions on

How, Actually, to do Them

*

The Spinner

The basic yoyo move:

It goes down, it comes back.

If you can’t make this

One work maybe you

Should think about

Another sport. Or

Maybe it’s not a yoyo

At all—brick on a string?

*

Walking the Dog

Yoyo bounces uncertainly

Ahead of you on the floor.

It doesn’t look like a dog,

Nobody’s impressed,

And you don’t want

To try it on a

Cement sidewalk.

*

The Breakaway

A very impressive

Trick until

You miss and hit

And audience member

Behind you square

In the eye. Say

With me now: “I

Meant to do that.”

*

Around the Corner

No corners here—

You loop the string

Over your arm,

And maybe

The thing comes back.

Paint dries.

Grass grows.

*

Over the Falls

A fast, visually impressive

Move. Used to be

Known as Skin the Cat,

But these are politically

Correct times.

*

Three Leaf Clover

Up. Down. Forward.

Very cool move,

Always best done

In profile. Throw in

An Around the World

For a fourth leaf

And you’ll never

Pay for a drink on

St. Patrick’s day.

*

The Creeper

The dog, out for

A walk, has eaten grass.

Move on, move on carefully.

*

Rock the Baby

This is the money trick,

The one everyone remembers,

Everyone wants to see.

Practice this triangle move,

Master it, and you’ll

Never have to work again.

Well, actually, you will.

But you’ll have something

Cool to practice at lunch.

*

Anecdote

Was staying at a hotel

(Wish I could say it was

Santa Barbara) where the

Bellman commented on

My National Yoyo Museum

T-shirt (Yes, there is one,

Chico, CA, where the 250

Pound yoyo sleeps. Because

It wants to). “Used to play

That growing up in the

Phillipines,” he said. Dug

A green Imperial (It is the color

Of Yo, the color of hope, the

Color of eternal return) and

Gave it to him. So would you.

For the rest of the weekend,

Subtly, surreptitiously, he

Practiced his moves

Behind his bell desk.

Pedro Flores and Donald

Duncan alive, and

Back in the building.

Before You Try This at Home

I.

One of the world’s

Leading yoyo designers

Is a dentist.

II.

One of the world’s

Best known

Experts on yoyo

Collecting is also

En emergency room

Physican.

*

A Last Wind Up

There is the sense of wonder,

Of possibility, of hope—

That small disk, the bright string

In your palm, in the moment

Before you throw down,

Knowing that you and

Three feet of string can,

For a time, make magic, defy

Gravity, sculpt the air

Around you, make

The past live again.

It goes down. It comes

Back; history is repeated,

The circle of life closed,

The tale of the eternal

Return told again. That

Small disk, in your hand.

KEVIN JONES lives just outside Sacramento, California, and when not winding and unwinding, teaches at the Sacramento Center of Union Institute & University.