Includes moving story of John Hayes, aka Billy Bouncer
Bill Sorenson, founder of American Athletic Inc, was on a mission when he spoke to about 100 persons Sunday afternoon at the Greene County Historical Museum. “I came out here to thank all of you because this is not a one-man operation. I’m sure you all know that,” he said early in the program, which was hosted by the Greene County Historical Society.
Historical Society board member Chuck Offenburger served as emcee, explaining that AAI’s history tells a story about economic development in Jefferson and in the county. “This is a compelling story of how our community helped grow this company,” Offenburger said. Now owned by Russell Brands, AAI is a major supplier internationally of gymnastics, basketball, and volleyball equipment.
Sorenson told the story of the early years of AAI, then the American Trampoline Company, and “the trial by fire we all had together,” he said.
Sorenson moved to Jefferson from Spencer after his junior year in high school and graduated from Jefferson High School in 1948. He was a competitive swimmer at the University of Iowa, and was introduced to trampolines by the UI gymnastics coach. That introduction changed his life.
He married Mary Jane Seela, a Jefferson girl, and in 1953 he was the “catcher” in the Tom Parris Trio trampoline act in New York City. After six months, they returned to Jefferson, but he “couldn’t get this trampoline craziness out of me,” he said.
He clarified that he did not build his first trampoline in the basement of Seela Hardware on the northwest corner of the courthouse square, as most stories claim. His first attempt was built in a garage and was an “aqua tramp,” a trampoline bed attached to a very large inner tube. He showed a picture of the aqua tramp in the doorway of the garage, and another one of it in the Jefferson pool in 1954. “It took a lot of supervision, it cost a lot of money, it didn’t work and it didn’t sell,” he said.
He did, though, develop a small trampoline and a larger backyard-size trampoline, which he built in the basement of the hardware store. “I want to give a lot of credit to Newt Seela. What a wonderful man. He paid me to work at the hardware store but let me make trampolines in the basement,” Sorenson said.
He incorporated with Meredith Shriver, Del Van Horn and Ted Seela in 1957. He named Carl Dennhardt and Dale Bennett as being important in the early years, and he thanked Warren Garst and Gerald Clause at Home State Bank for their help with business loans in the early years. He thanked Dane Kious and Gus Heath for their help, as well.
Sorenson is a good storyteller, and he had the full attention of the audience as he told a story that has not been preserved as carefully as other parts of the company’s history, the story of a lawsuit filed by Nissen Trampoline of Cedar Rapids against American Trampoline in 1958. George Nissen claimed to hold a trademark on the word “trampoline” and a patent on the folding trampoline leg American Trampoline was building. With the help of patent attorney Donald Zarley of Des Moines, American Trampoline filed a countersuit against Nissen.
“Serious research” followed, and in the end, Zarley “taught those Chicago white shoe lawyers a thing or two,” Sorenson said. Into the story of the lawsuit, Sorenson wove stories of trampoline performers Joe E. Brown, George Paul, Larry Griswold, and John Hayes, aka Billy Bouncer.
Hayes was a trampoline performer in the 1890s and patented a trampoline in 1916. In 1960, as trampoline centers were becoming popular and the lawsuit was still in litigation, Sorenson, with some serendipitous help from “What’s My Line” producers, located Hayes in Conajoharie, NY. He was known by townspeople as Crazy Billy and was an indigent ward of the Conajoharie police department. Sorenson met Hayes and was able to use some of his memorabilia in the lawsuit. He also informed the townspeople of Conajoharie about Hayes’ earlier fame. Hayes enjoyed a brief bit of recognition as a celebrity, but died and was buried at public expense before Sorenson was able to tell him of winning the lawsuit in 1961.
Sorenson said Sunday he would have come to Jefferson from his home in Connecticut 10 times to tell the story of Billy Bouncer.
Sorenson moved forward in his storytelling to 1967, when the newly formed Jefferson Industrial Development Corporation, with president Fred Morain, purchased property on Highway 30 and built a $250,000 plant with the intention of leasing it to American Trampoline. “Talk about a community that supports its industries!” Sorenson said.
He named Jay Ashmore and Neal Squibb as two employees who have had a huge impact on the company. Ashmore was a gold medal gymnast in the Pan American Games and coached gymnastics at the university level in the 1960s. He joined American and put together a sales organization of athletes and coaches selling to coaches and university teams. Sorenson said that for many years that was a unique approach to selling. “That’s how American became Number One in the world and still is,” he said.
Squibb lives in Scranton and was at Sunday’s program. Sorenson called him “the most inventive, skilled with steel and other materials guy I’ve ever worked with.” He told of spending hours with Squibb working on new locking devices and apparatus designs that are being sold now.
Sorenson’s presentation was followed by a question and answer time during which several persons shared their experiences and recollections of Sorenson and trampolines. A favorite story was of Sorenson and a college friend, who worked as lifeguards at the pool, sleeping on the pump house at the pool to catch teenagers climbing over the fence to swim at night. “I know who you are,” Sorenson said, “but I won’t name you now.”
Upcoming events at the museum include “Poetry Out Loud” on Sunday, Sept. 14, and a cemetery walk and chili supper Sunday, Oct. 5.
(Editor’s note: Jimmy Clopton and Bobby Boyle were among the young men who helped weave the trampolines from 1955-1957.)
