Inventor of the trampoline. George Nissen was inspired at the age of 16 to invent the modern trampoline after watching trapeze artists bounce off a safety net to the roar of the crowd at a travelling circus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nissen was a member of the gymnastics and diving teams at Cedar Rapids Washington High School when he saw that circus, and was soon experimenting in his parents' garage, strapping together a steel frame and a canvas sheet. He developed what he called a "Bouncing Ring" in 1930, which was not quite as springy as he had hoped. Several years later, while he was a business major at the University of Iowa, Nissen and his gymnastics coach, Larry Griswold, worked together to make a more flexible "Bouncing Ring" with a nylon sheet. Nissen also won three NCAA gymnastics championships while he was a student at the University of Iowa. Nissen and two of his friends formed a travelling acrobatics act called the Three Leonardos in 1937, and began performing throughout the Midwest and Texas, and then in Mexico. In Mexico, he heard the Spanish word for diving board: "el trampolin." He added an "e" and registered "Trampoline" as a trademark when he returned to the United States. After making the first prototype trampoline, Nissen and Coach Griswold, opened a small factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they began marketing the device. When initial sales were slow, Larry Griswold, went out on tour as a comedic acrobat under the name "the Diving Fool." Eventually, after George Nissen returned from serving in the Navy during the Second World War, Nissen Trampoline in Cedar Rapids became the world's largest gymnastics equipment manufacturer. Nissen also was very active in promoting the sport of trampolining, which was finally added as an Olympic sport in the year 2000.∼George Nissen was a gymnast, diver, and sports pioneer. He is credited for the invention of the trampoline. His invention was inspired by watching trapeze artists bouncing off a safety net. In 1934 he created his first workable prototype from canvas and junkyard scraps mainly from strips of inner tube rubber. In 1937 with two friends, went across country and Mexico calling themselves the Three Leonardos and performing what was called rebound tumbling. George didn't like the name and changed the name to trampolin after the Spanish word meaning diving board or spring board. He trademarked the word Trampoline and opened up the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline and Tumbling Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During World War Two he served in the Navy and his invention was used to train pilots in orientating themselves in the air. The most famous publicity shot was taken in New York in 1960 where George is jumping on a trampoline with a kangaroo in Central Park. Switzerland has an annual trampoline event called the Nissen Cup. The trampoline debuted at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after his workable prototype was created more than 60 years ago. George was in the audience the first night of the competition. The trampoline is a worldwide phenomenon and loved by children, young and old.