NOTEWORTHY INVENTORS:
SCOTT OLSON
Answer
Weekly SUDOKU
Answer
King CROSSWORD
Listed as one of TIME magazine’s Top 100 products of the 20th century, rollerblades were the brainstorm of Minnesotan Scott Olson. And he’s currently hard at work on a new concept, the Skyride. Let’s take a look at his story. • In 1980, Scott Olson was a 19-year-old Junior A pro hockey player trying to figure out an interesting way to train in the summer. After seeing a pair of inline skates in a catalog, he asked his local sporting goods dealer, Bloomington, Minnesota’s Athletic Outfitters, if any were in stock. The few pairs in the store had been sitting there for years with no sales. Olson bought them all, surprising the owner who said, “I’ve had those things for five years and you are the only one that ever bought them.” • Since he didn’t really like the design of the skates, Olson began experimenting with a pair in his parents’ Minneapolis basement, making the wheels softer and able to be attached to hockey skates. He pushed his product to hockey players and coaches directly, offering a money-back guarantee. With a patent in hand, he fashioned a better boot, and at age 23, formed the company known as Rollerblade, the first company to mass-produce inline skates. • Olson, who had no formal business training, hired his friends as employees, one of whom, his best friend and accountant, embezzled funds from him. Although Rollerblades were becoming popular worldwide in 1985, Olson was close to losing his company. He was approached by two investors who would keep the Rollerblade brand alive, along with giving Olson a small percentage in the business. • By 1988, annual sales were close to $10 million, and it was the fastest-growing sport in America. In the 1990s, sales peaked at nearly half a billion dollars annually.
• Because the sport was so popular along the sidewalks bordering the Pacific Ocean, Olson says, “A lot of people thought Rollerblades must’ve started in Southern California, but in reality, it started in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hockey capital of the world.” • With enough money to live comfortably, Olson was free to try his hand at a few new inventions on his 45-acre Minnesota farm. He devised the LunarBed, a bed enclosed in a clear plastic globe designed for sleeping under the stars, and Rowbike, a bicycle that is rowed rather than peddled. A giant-outdoor version of ping pong known as Kong Pong was another invention birthed at the farm. One of his more unusual inventions was a plastic penguin lawn ornament that waddles in the wind. • Olson’s biggest dream these days is a fitness device known as Skyride, sit-down, bicycle-style capsules suspended from a 12-foot-tall aboveground track. It’s a monorail system, on which the capsules can be pedaled or rowed. Featured on television’s Shark Tank, the invention is intended for tourist attractions, fitness clubs, and sports facilities. His next vision involves designing fitness equipment for those with disabilities. • Olson, known as “Olie the goalie” to his friends, raises donkeys and trumpeter swans in his free time.