Wham-O began when two friends needed to feed their falcons mid-flight.
Rich Knerr and Spud Melin made a wooden slingshot to fire meatballs up to the young birds. The slingshot proved more popular than the falcons, and their barber told them to advertise it, so in 1948 they began selling it by mail, under a name taken from the sound its shot made. Ten years later Wham-O sold 25 million Hula Hoops in four months.
Wham-O on Brandseum