On A Kick

Originally printed 7/12/05
Article by Tricia Jones

Camas resident who made Hacky Sack a
household name humbled by success

The basic ingredients were much like oil and water. Two young men- one a
free-wheeling Oregonian with an easy laugh, the other a Texas-born jock vibrating
with energy. Summer days- long on twighlight, but often dampened by the Pacific
Northwest climate.
And a centuries-old pastime, refined and packaged to become the next Frisbee or
Hula Hoop.
The odd blend of components came together more than 30 years ago to produce
what is a toy to some, a sport to others. Athletes call it footbag. Most of us know it
through the trade name of Hacky Sack.
The footbag is alive and kicking, which will be demonstrated this weekend at a round
of freestyle contests held during Vancouver's Hot July Nights concert at Ester Short
Park. That Clark County is hosting the competition is due to the fact that it is home
to one of the men who made Hacky Sack a household name.
Houston native John Stalberger eventually sold all rights to his creation. But the
Camas resident admits people still call him Mr. Hacky Sack.
"I've met a couple of people who have said to me, 'oh, my gosh, you saved my life'
because they look at me as the person who did it all," said Stalberger, now a
54-year-old real estate agent and father of five.
"But I feel humble," Stalberger said. "I did what was my passion...and so many people
helped us along the way," he said.
Still, "it does feel good to know that if something was to happen, I left a legacy."
It's a legacy that has spanned oceans. Besides launching the Hacky Sack, Stalberger
founded a national Hacky Sack group that is now defunct but that begat the
still-thriving World Footbag Association. The association today claims an international
membership of 64,000 people in 45 countries.

Icon of footbag culture

Footbag enthusiasts cofirm Stalberger's near-inconic
stature. Ethan "Red" Husted, president of the
Sole Purpose footbag group in Portland, said Stalberger
took an idea and created a whole culture around it.
"It could have arisen in any decade, but I'm not sure
anyone could have made it work except for John,"
Husted said.
"He's a dreamer, a doer and a shaker," said "Mag" Scott
Hughes, a former national and world champion in footbag
net (as opposed to freestyle kicking) who helped
Stalberger promote the sport in it's early years. "He was
good at involving a lot of people who helped him with
his success."
Before any of that, there were just two foot soldiers in the
Hacky Sack campaign: Stalberger and Mike Marshall of
Oregon City. Marshall died of a heart attack at age 28
in 1975, leaving Stalberger to carry forward their shared
vision. Marshall's early death helped inspire Stalberger to
turn their mutual passion for footbag into something
positive. Both wanted Hacky Sack to get respect and
recognition as a sport, beyond its initial image as a slacker
magnet.

A champion inspired

Kenny Shults shared the positive energy. He has captured more world titles in both
freestyle and footbag net games than any other athlete, according to the International
Footbag Player's Association.
The future champion met Stalberger as a star-struck 12-year-old attending his first
footbag tournament in 1979. Shults ended up working for his idol during his high
school years, spending summers and weekends doing footbag demonstrations at trade
shows and sporting events.
Today, Shults denies that Stalberger's story is one man simply in the right place at the
right time.
"There are games like it in other parts of the world, but Johnny really deserves the
credit" for inventing footbag, Shults said from his home in Newtown, Pa. "Johnny was
the one who had the entrepreneurial spirit and athletic gifts to see the potential of the
sport, and the energy and drive and push to make it happen.
"I don't think it was going to happen by itself."
When it actually happened is a tad fuzzy. Most histories of footbag give Hacky Sack
a birthdate of 1972. Stalberger said although he met Marshall that year, their interest
in footbag didn't get serious until the following year.
The two had become almost instant buddies after Stalberger suffered a knee injury
in a pickup footbag game at the University of Texas, where he was a student. He
decided to visit a friend a friend in Oregon City and met Marshall soon after at a local
festival.
Marshall introduced his new pal to the game of alternating the feet to keep a small
bean bag aloft as long as possible. Versions of the game had been played on various
continents since ancient times.
"We started using everything from rice to beans in a pouch. Back in the '70s, it rained
a lot, and man, did we have some footbags sprouting," Stalberger recalled.
Bent on marketing their activity, the two friends were advised by a Portland attorney
to register the product under a trade name. The Hacky Sack became official in 1974.

More than a passing fad

With others, Stalberger began taking the product on the road. He did multistate
school demos, hoping to persuade physical education teachers to add footbag to the
cirriculum.
Stalberger reasoned that if children could develop eye-foot coordination, using left
and right feet equally, the skill could boost other athletic abilities.
"We basically thought the world of footbag would last 10 years," said Stalberger.
But footbag proved to be more than a fad. In 1984, Stalberger sold the U.S. and
Canadian rights to the Hacky Sack name to Wham-O. He said he decided on the
deal when it became clear that Wham-O was prepared to compete with Stalberger's
company, a contest Stalberger knew he'd lose. Wham-O bought the international
rights to Hacky Sack some time in the early 1990's, Stalberger said.
Stalberger said his contract bound him to silence on financial details. However, he
said he sold his company "for well over $1 million dollars" in 1984 and was hired
by Wham-O as a consultant. The deal didn't enable Stalberger to retire. He is an
agent with Century 21 Expert Realty of Vancouver, which is presenting the Founder's
Cup contest at Hot July Nights. Still, he said he ws able to make numberous
investments and "we're very blessed, let's put it that way."
Stalberger hasn't competed in footbag since 1982. But he continues to honor his
creation's co-founder by giving away Mike Marshall awards at world championship
contests.
Marshall, he says, would be "dancing on tables" with delight at how the footbag has
fared.
And while Stalberger said young players can do moves he never even thought of,
Stalberger finds himself hacking the sack on the sidelines at tournaments. He can
still get a footbag hopping, exhibiting an almost Zen-like concentration.
"Anyone standing by thinking, 'look at this old guy' is going to see some air," he said.