Hoping for Hoola Hoops in Heaven

You didn't know Richard Knerr, but his legacy is all around you.

When you go to the park and see a group of granola 20-somethings playing Ultimate Frisbee, he is there.

When you walk down the street and see this little girl swiveling her hips inside a Hoola Hoop, Knerr is a part of it.

And on a hot summer day, when you race down the yard and do a belly flop on that long, plastic Slip 'N Slide, Richard Knerr is smiling somewhere.

Knerr, the co-founder of Wham-O, the company that gave life to each of these beloved American pastimes, is dead at the age of 82. For the benefit of kids all over the world who've never gotten to try them, you have to think that these toys will be available for use in Heaven.

Hopefully Knerr will be there to enjoy them, too.