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Tom Kuhn

Dr. Tom Kuhn is a San Francisco dentist who has been making yo-yos since the 1970's. Once a neighborhood Duncan yo-yo champion in 1955, he hadn't played in years when he was given a wooden yo-yo as a gift. When it broke, he set out to create an improved yo-yo, starting a second career which carries on to this day. He is the creator of the No Jive 3-in-1, the first modular yo-yo, and the patented Silver Bullet II (SB-2), the first metal ball bearing yo-yo. Originally Tom produced yo-yos in his own San Francisco workshop, but over the years more of his yo-yos have been produced in collaboration with other companies, first Hummingbird, and most importantly What's Next Mfg where his yo-yos were made starting in 1995.

In 1979 Tom Kuhn created the Big Yo, a working 256 pound scaled up version of the No Jive 3-in-1. This earned him a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest yo-yo.

In 1984 Tom taught astronaut David Griggs how to yo-yo for NASA's "Toys in Space" experiment (though Astronaut Griggs had to use a Duncan Imperial in space since Kuhn's wood yo-yos of the time didn't meet NASA's requirements for fire safety) and in 1992 another astronaut, Jeffrey Hoffman, played with an aluminum Silver Bullet II aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

In 1999 Tom instroduced his patented Turbo Discs (a linen friction ring response system) and began including it with all of his ball-bearing yo-yos.