Inventor Sherman Poppen, snurfing his way into history

I grew up in Colorado. Just about every time I mention that fact to someone, I get asked, “Do you ski?” And for years I would launch into my explanation for why I didn’t ski: its expensive, my parents were not athletic, and there wasn’t anyone around who could drive me up to the ski resorts. Boring! So finally, after moving to the east coast—where there isn’t any real snow—I decided to try snowboarding. It looked like fun and I liked the gear. And besides, I had heard that even though the initial learning curve was steeper compared to skiing, once I got the hang of snowboarding I would have a lot more fun.

Well, I have since tried skiing too, and I can’t say that I’ve gotten the hang of either sport. But I have wondered why snowboarding is such a recent development compared to skiing, which has been around for hundreds (maybe even thousands) of years. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner? While we will probably never know the answer to that question, I did recently meet Sherman Poppen, the “grandfather of snowboarding.”

To be more precise, Poppen is the inventor of the Snurfer. On Christmas Day in 1965, he began tinkering in his garage in Muskegon, Michigan, and in the process invented an entirely new winter sport. To entertain his young daughters, he took a pair of children’s snow skis and bound them together to make a single, wide board. He was thinking, as he explained later in his patent application, of a “new snow sport which incorporates features of certain summer pastimes, namely surfboarding, skate boarding, and slalom water skiing.” Delighted with her husband’s invention, Nancy Poppen called the new toy “Snurfer,” a contraction of “snow surfer.” Sherm, as he liked to be called, went on to patent his invention (#3,378,274), and he licensed his creation to Brunswick Corporation of Lake Forest, Illinois. Within a year, Snurfers were flying off store shelves, just in time for Christmas.

To ride the Snurfer, one simply stood on the board and held on to a lanyard attached to the front end. Since Snurfers didn’t have bindings, they couldn’t be taken on chair lifts at ski resorts. The credit for the invention of the modern snowboard is controversial, but it is clear that a number of innovators began experimenting with bindings in the 1970s. Most enthusiasts seem to agree that the first competitive snowboard competition was held in 1979 at the World Snurfing Championship in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jake Burton, who rode a board with bindings of his own design, was the winner—and the sole competitor. Burton went on to lobby ski resorts to open their lifts to snowboarders, and when they finally began to do so in the early 1980s, Burton was ready with boards to sell.

Luckily for the Lemelson Center, where we study American inventors, Poppen saved his records and recently contacted the Smithsonian to inquire about donating them. We met with Sherm and his second wife Louise when they brought some items from his collection, including a prototype and two commercial boards, to the National Museum of American History in April. Eager to document his work as an inventor more completely, I visited the Poppens at their home in Denver, Colorado in June. There I found more prototypes and additional papers related to patenting, manufacturing, and marketing the Snurfer. The prototypes and boards have now joined the museum’s sports history collections, and the papers will be processed and made available in the Archives Center. While we don’t have any immediate plans to put the Snurfer on exhibit, I will be sharing Sherm’s story and showing a few of the items he donated during my Meet Our Museum talk on September 24th.

I’m a little disappointed that learning how to snowboard hasn’t been as easy for me as I had hoped. But meeting Sherm Poppen has inspired me to get out there and try again.

Maggie Dennis is the Historian and Fellowship Coordinator for the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.

Comments

[Jim]

It's good to see Mr Poppen get his due. A couple of points. There were Snurfing championships held in the early to mid '70s in Grand Haven, MI. There was even a newsletter associated with the races. The reason Mr Poppen went Brunswick with the idea was because there was a Brunswick manufacturing plant (bowling pins) in Muskegon, MI where Sherman lived at the time. I beleive the original prototype was made from a modified slalom water ski.

[Todd]

Hi, wanted to say great article! I might be a little off topic here... but I grew up both in the midwest and out east. I would have to say that I preferred being out in the Berkshires more than anywhere (I'm also a huge Norman Rockwell fan) and always thought Burton was the sole inventor or snowboarding.

Anyways, thanks for the insight. The your article sparked a new concept I hadn’t given thought to before.

[CosmicRay55]

The snurfer "concept" is news to me. Are there any film records of those early days? I'd love to get hold of some historical stuff for my slightly threadbare skiing and snowboarding movies site at http://www.ski-movies.com.

Since I had the idea of setting up a blog about my favourite ski movies I've been getting curious about some of the early stuff that went on.

[Josh]

I'm still amazed at how sports crossover with each other... I'm a surfer and within the last year have seen the popularity of the Stand Up Paddle Boards take off. Cross between surfing and kayaking...

I believe I remember the name "The Snurfer" but always relate back to Burton being the inventor of snowboarding. I guess they were good marketers..

Let's hope sports keep progressing and pushing the fun limits.

[NMAH]

Steve,

Sherman Poppen developed his “snurfer” idea in December 1965 and filed for a patent on his creation in March of 1966. US Patent #3,378,274 titled “Surf-Type Snow Ski” issued on April 16, 1968. Poppen assigned his patent to both Brunswick Corporation of Delaware and the Jem Corporation of Virginia, both of which are referenced in a sales agreement dated February 1973. Both companies manufactured the snurfer board. Patents are transferrable assets and the patent owner may assign/license the patent to a manufacturer in exchange for royalty payments.

Poppen also trademarked the words snurf and snurfer (US Trademark # 1,518,101) and he assigned use of the trademark name snurfer to the Jem Corporation of Virginia per a sales agreement dated February 1973. Rights in a federally-registered trademark can last indefinitely if the owner continues to use the mark on or in connection with the goods and/or services in the registration and files all necessary documentation in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

U.S. Patents filed prior to June 8, 1995 expire 17 years from the date of issue and U.S. Patents filed after June 8, 1995 expire 20 years from the date of filing. Sherman Poppen’s patent 3,378,274 ultimately expired in 1985.

[steve]

How did the current snowboards arise without running into patent issues, or did Sherman assign his patent, or did it simply expire?

[Landforms]

I am a person who loves to snowboard. I never knew they were once called snurfs (as with no bindings). Adding bindings is a great invention!

[Pat Smith]

No "real snow" on the East Coast? Adirondacks, Catskills, Berkshires, White Mountains, Green Mountains? Guess we must be shoveling,snow shoeing, skiing etc. through pixie dust......