With his best friend, Arthur “Spud” Melin, Knerr founded a toy company, which they named after the sound their first product, a slingshot, produced: “Wham-O”.
The company produced a parade of products that entered the American and world psyche, and still produce nostalgia today: the Hula Hoop; the Frisbee; the Superball; the Slip ’n’ Slide and the Water Wiggle; Silly String.
“In April of 1958, people were standing around the block at department stores that were waiting to get their shipment” of Hula Hoops, said Knerr’s son, Chuck. The company was turning them out at the rate of 20,000 per day. But “by September, you couldn’t give them away. Once every household had two or three, it was over because they lasted forever.” Knerr and Melin sold the company in 1982. Knerr died January 14 after suffering a stroke. He was 82.