How it all began...

In 1995 I had just turned 12. It was summer vacation and my best friend and I were doing our usual thing, running around and getting into trouble. He asks me one day if I want to go to his neighbor's house and see some yo-yo tricks, like out of nowhere.

At first I was skeptical because I had never met his neighbor, or even seen him outside for that matter. Even at 12 years old I was scared of being abducted and this seemed like a trap. I told him no at first but that meant we were definitely doing it. So, he ran over to his neighbor's house and I reluctantly followed. He rang to door bell and gave the door a hard knock. After a couple of minutes the door opens and standing in front of us was an older man with a huge beard. I thought oh my gosh this was a terrible idea. My friend asks him if he can show us some yo-yo tricks and he says sure, in a really kind sounding voice, we just needed to meet him in the garage. In the garage?! We were dead for sure, I thought. I walked around to the front of the garage and as the door opens I step back. Then the guy tells us the yo-yoes are in the trunk of his car. What?! You have got to be kidding me. This guys seemed more likely to have a trash bag to put us in in the trunk of his car than yo-yoes. He opens his trunk and sure enough...full of yo-yoes.

I was instantly relieved when I saw the yo-yoes. I felt silly for being so paranoid, but then I have always been that way.

So then came the question "What is this guy gonna do with a yo-yo?". Well before I could really even finish the question in my head he shakes my hand, introduces himself as Tom Gates, and puts a yo-yo in my hand. "What am I gonna do with a yo-yo?"

That day he taught us how to wind the yo-yo, push-pull(gravity pull for you noobs), throw it down, make it sleep, rock the baby, walk the dog, creeper, and forward pass. Not bad for the first day. When it came time for Tom to go back inside I tried to return the yo-yo and he told me to hang on to it, practice, and come back and learn more if we like.




In the next few days I had mastered all of the tricks Tom had taught me and I wanted to learn more. My friend was still working on those and we went back. This time Tom had taught me how to throw a breakaway, man on the flying trapeze, around the world and loop the loop. I had mastered these before we even left. I was hooked, soaking up tricks like a sponge.

Eventually my friend had lost interest and quit yo-yoing, but I couldn't. I wanted to learn as many tricks as I could.

Tom and I became great friends. He was like a second dad to me. He showed me opportunities that would have been otherwise out of reach. But those are other stories...