This past week, Richard Knerr, 82-year old trademarker of the “hula-hoop” among many other wildly popular toys, passed away after suffering a stroke in Northern California. Knerr (pictured here on the right along with his business partner, Arthur Melin who died in 2002) patented the ‘hula hoop’ toy in the late 1950’s after learning about children in Australia swinging rattan rings ’round their waists. While hoops of various natural materials (like grapevines, wood, and metal) have been around for millennia prior to Knerr and Melin’s colorful plastic version, the two men of Wham-O made it the most popular toy fad in our country’s history…selling 100 million hoops within the first year of production! It is fit to mention here that Native Hoop Dance (which is very different than the Wham-O version of hooping) has been an integral part of this land’s indigenous peoples for many, many generations, and remains a thriving cultural dance form to this day.