Had Trampoline .... Did Travel!: My travels and adventures while helping introduce the sport of trampoline throughout the world

Had Trampoline .... Did Travel!: My travels and adventures while helping introduce the sport of trampoline throughout the world

In 1951, while on the playground of his elementary school in Amarillo, Texas, 10-year-old Ron Munn spotted a small trampoline in the backyard of a neighboring home. The following Saturday, Ron hopped on his bike, pedaled to the backyard, jumped the fence, and scrambled onto the little trampoline. Over the next 50 years, trampolines would open many doors for Ron. He soon became a skilled trampoline athlete and at the age of 15 was crowned the 1956 National AAU Champion. Three years later, he won the gold medal at the 1959 Pan American Games. More opportunities and adventures quickly followed, including carrying a trampoline atop a Land Rover to perform his trampoline act throughout South Africa, bouncing on a trampoline on top of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and touring the U.S. with Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut. Transitioning into international sales in 1965 for the Nissen Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of trampolines and gymnastics apparatus, Ron traveled the world collecting numerous stories and exciting experiences, along with supporting efforts in seeing trampoline become an Olympic event in 2000. But the one thing that always made him chuckle was coming across a trampoline in some of the unlikeliest of places - - Kenya, Bangladesh, or China. He’d often wonder if one of these trampolines would be just the spark needed for some young boy or girl to inspire them to pursue their own world of travel and excitement.