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At Play

We work hard and we play hard. Americans are very proud of how seriously we play. We tell our kids that games are all about fun, but for most of us, games are all about winning. Inventors know we have a passion for play. They know we’ll spend our hard-earned cash to make that playtime even better.

So while the rest of us are busy playing our games, inventors are busy trying to make those games easier, more accessible, and more interesting. Whether it is being able to watch sports with hands-free binoculars or turning a pickup truck into a basketball court, these inventors have made recreation their playing field.

You’ll meet some inventors who have come up with entirely new games. Will Trangleball® replace volleyball? Will you go crazy over the Going-Going Crazy® Game? I found an inventor who is trying to make fishing easier and still another inventor who claims to have made a good old-fashioned turkey shoot so simple that it is almost child’s play. There’s even an inventor who has found a way to mix Christmas and Hanukkah. Inventors go where angels fear to tread.

If you are serious about your playtime, then get ready to meet some men and women who are serious about their playtime inventions.

Pick Up Hoops™

He Shoots, He Scores

To understand 40-year-old Jason Parr, you need to know that this guy was a gym rat. He lived to play basketball. He described himself to me as a “hoop head.”

When Jason wasn’t playing basketball, he earned his living working as a coordinator for an off-site data protection company called Iron Mountain. But even so, Jason was still a “hoop head.” He and his co-workers always tried to get together after work to play some hoops, but going to a nearby indoor or outdoor court meant complications. Why not a basketball hoop in the parking lot at work? Great idea, but the boss wasn’t crazy about it. But if they wanted to pay for the hoop and put it in, it was fine by him.

Jason thought about it, including getting “one of those so-called portable types to take to and from work.” Then Jason Parr got an idea that would forever change his life.

He happened to drive a pickup at that time. What could be more perfect than to have a hoop made to go in the back of his truck? He could have a basketball court with him anywhere he went. He could play anytime anywhere he wanted. Sweet.

Jason’s pickup truck was already three feet off the ground, so he just needed seven more feet to meet the regulation height of ten feet. He sketched something that resembled scaffolding in the back of a truck that had a backboard hanging on it, then passed the ball to his uncle, Jon VarnHagen. Uncle Jon was an automotive engineer for Chrysler Corporation. Jon, who also loved basketball, immediately saw the genius behind a mobile instant basketball court.

Jon approached the situation from an engineer’s perspective, establishing design requirements up front. First, the backboard and goal must extend far enough away from the back of the truck to allow adequate baseline play. Second, the system must able to be set up or taken down by one person, without any tools, in under a minute—otherwise it might be considered too much trouble for most consumers. Third, the design would need to fit all truck sizes: short or long boxes, full-size or mini pickups, and 2- or 4-wheel drive. Fourth, the hoops would need to be easily removable from the truck when the truck bed was needed for uses other than basketball (like that would ever happen).

The design that came to Jon was like a convertible top on a car—after all, he did work for Chrysler. The hoop system would need to fit neatly and compactly in the space available, which is the bed, then extend up and out, away from the back of the truck, in the play position. The resultant design achieved all the design requirements and then some. Rear overhang of the backboard extends about four feet from the truck’s tailgate. The hoop angle can be adjusted to compensate for parking on a sloped lot. What’s more, it can be set up in thirty seconds without tools and the whole system weighs less than 60 pounds.

They named the product Pick Up Hoops and made a few prototypes. Jason brought it to work and his fellow co-workers loved it. He showed the Pick Up Hoops to everyone he saw playing basketball and they all loved it. One group that was especially excited about Pick Up Hoops was the Michigan Wheelchair Basketball Team. You see, most public basketball courts are a slab of asphalt with grass or dirt around the court. For basketball players in wheelchairs, rolling off the court onto the grass can be a real problem. But with Pick Up Hoops you can set up your court anywhere in the middle of a parking lot and play b-ball. In town parades, Jason drives his pickup truck down the parade route with the Michigan Wheelchair Basketball Team playing right behind. Cool, huh?

As for Pick Up Hoops, Jason is not trying to sell individual units. He wants some large company to license the concept from him. He has knocked on every door he could think of trying to get some company interested, including Spalding and just about every backboard company. He’s talked to all the American car manufacturers and now he’s planning to hit on foreign carmakers. So far, nobody wants to play ball.

“When I was growing up, the only way you had your own hoop was to have a garage. But now with our product, if you have a truck you have a truly portable hoop game.”

Jason is quick to point out that there are other portable hoops, but says they all feel like toys. His hoop has a professional backboard of 54 inches, whereas most portables are only 42 inches. And, most importantly, his hoops can take a beating and even handle a dunk.

Jason can’t see why he hasn’t found the right company to license his product. He says one out of every seven vehicles sold in the U.S. is a truck. Young men love trucks and basketball; it just makes sense.

Jason’s not giving up. When it comes to basketball, he’s a competitor and this game is far from over.