Rest In Peace George Nissen.
American gymnastics legend George Nissen passed away on April 7 in San Diego of complications from pneumonia.
I.G. – Dwight Normile – Trampoline Inventor George Nissen Passes Away
How did he get the idea?
… The Ringling Bros. circus would come to Cedar Rapids every year in the summer, and my brother and I would go. We actually did carry water for the elephants to get admission. When we watched the circus, we really enjoyed the flying trapeze performers, especially their dismounts. If they missed, they would fall to the net. But they would also dismount to the net and then they would rebound with another trick. I said, “Jeez, if you wanted to, you could keep rebounding into other tricks …
The inventor of the trampoline was also the inventor of crazy trampoline stunts, like the time he double bounced with a kangaroo.
There’s a great historical documentary called Up in the Air on YouTube.
The internet is full of tributes to the great man. Every acrobatic coach owes him a debt of gratitude.
Thank-you George Nissen.
8 comments ↓
Was he the owner of the gymnastics museum as you head up from San Diego to LA on the 5? I remember getting off there and this nice old duck let me walk through the thing even though it was closed. Seemed like a labor of love (not much revenue). We chatted about Peter K and stuff and he was nice to me even though I was never much of an acrobat…
no Poly, that was Glenn Sundby….slowly but surely, our “founding fathers” are passing into legend…..
I think my favorite George Nissen stunt was the time in the 70s when he had a group over in Egypt (I think Linda Mulvihill was on the trip), cajoled a bunch of folks to carry a trampoline up to the top of the Great Pyramid at Giza and bounced up there…..
r.i.p. George
Oh…I just looked up Sundby’s bio on the web. How cool that I stopped off and got to chat with him!
Sorry…not meaning to dishonor Nissen!
RIP George
he also owned an gym equiptement company.
some of his old stuff is still in use because some coaches say its better than the new stuff
RIP sir. I remember my first walk across a real balance beam. It was a beige slippery thing that I’d eventually do walkovers and (very few) handsprings on. While more beams came into the gym, that beam always remained. When the coach wanted to challenge (or punish you), you went to the dreaded Nissan!
There is no dishonor to George Nissen in relation to Glenn Sundby. They were the best of friends for many years. My father was crushed when Glenn passed away last year. They stayed in touch until the end as Glenn lived nearby.
Thank you for posting info on GymnasticsCoaching.com. I look forward to receiving your emails. Always good viewpoints and good reporting.
Some nice articles coming out from Los Angeles Times, NY Times and Wall Street Journal relating to his life and passing, by the way….
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