It all began with a whimsical idea: Bouncing could be a lot of fun.
It was 1930, and 16-year-old George Nissen was at the circus, watching a trapeze show. But Nissen wasn’t watching the performers flipping and twisting high up in the air. His eyes were glued to the safety net stretched below them. At the end of each routine, the trapeze artists would let themselves fall into the net, which caught them like a springy mitt and sent them back up into the air.
Now that looks fun, Nissen thought.
In that instant, the idea for the trampoline was born.
A Popular Pastime
Nissen went home and began to work on a new invention. His gymnastics coach helped him. Nissen took a sheet of canvas. He stretched it across a frame made of steel. He called the contraption “the bouncing rig.” He came up with a far better name a few years later. The name was trampoline. The name comes from the Spanish word for diving board.
Over the next few years, Nissen worked hard to improve his creation. He gave demonstrations all over the world to promote his trampoline. In 1941, he started a company that produced and sold trampolines—and he made millions of dollars.
Soon, trampolines were popping up all over America. They were appearing in backyards. They were appearing at public “jump centers.” They were appearing at some gas stations, where road-weary kids could bounce while their parents filled the gas tank. The U.S. military even used trampolines to train pilots and parachutists.
A Dangerous Thrill
There was no denying the thrill of jumping on a trampoline. But there was—and still is—a major problem: Trampolines are dangerous. Every year, thousands of bouncers are injured, some seriously. According to a 2014 study by the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, trampoline-related injuries sent more than 1 million people to emergency rooms between 2002 and 2011—most of them children under age 16.
In 1989, the company Nissen started went out of business because it could not afford the lawsuits from people who were getting hurt on trampolines. But Nissen never lost his passion for his invention. He continued trampolining until his death at age 96, and he lived to see one of his dreams come true: In 2000, trampolining became an Olympic sport.
So the next time you leap on a trampoline, be careful. And be sure to thank George Nissen for the thrill of flying through the air.
This story was originally published in the November 2019 issue.
