Yo-yo Grand Master

The rigors of day-to-day life tend to extinguish theflames of youth and creativity in most people. Societydictates that when you reach a certain age, you are nolonger allowed to do what once, in youth, made youhappy. People who have managed to resist this trulyare few and far between. Dale Myrberg, a Utah native,is one of these people. "I’m the epitome of the old guywho grew up to be a kid," he says. Recently, I got theopportunity to kick back with Myrberg. We threw someyo-yos, he knocked quarters off of some ears andshared with me his philosophy on life and his opinionon the current state of yo.

Yo-yoing is a big part of life for Myrberg and he is abig part of yo-yoing. He is 66 years old and has beenyo-yoing for over 60 of those years. He started justlike all the other kids, trading small time tricks locally.However, the supernatural yo beings had a differentplan for Myrberg. They endowed him with the capacityto learn the long-hidden secrets of yo. Before too long,Myrberg was capable of performing advanced tricksthat even Duncan demonstrators struggled with. WhenMyrberg was 13-years-old, he was hired by Duncanas a demonstrator for a dollar an hour. Myrberg took abreak from yo-yoing during high school. "I didn’t think itwas the cool thing to do at South High. I shouldn’t haveever done it," he says. Other than that short hiatus, hehas been throwing like crazy and has neverlooked back.

Photo: Adam Dorobiala

Thus began Myrberg’s monumental yo-yoing career. In1995, he was among the first of three to be named aNational Yo-yo Master. In 1996, he won the World’s Yo-yo Grand MasterYoyoContest, earning the title of World Yo-yo Champion.That same year, Myrberg set six benchmark yo-yoingworld records. Five of them have since been broken(though, not with fixed-axle yo-yos, much to hischagrin) but one, outside loops, still stands to this day.In 2001, he was awarded National Yo-yo Grand Masterstatus, a title that is held by only three other peopleworldwide. In addition to all of that, he also had a lot todo with getting Bandai to buy into a distribution dealwith Yomega, effectively creating the biggest yo-yo fadthe world has ever known. "I always wanted to go toJapan for some reason. When that opportunity cameup, I went over there with promoters from Hawaii, AlanNagao and Alex Garcia, and we promoted yo-yo.He got Bandai toys to buy onto it, and that was thebeginning of the biggest yo-yo fad in the world," hesaid. That’s right: That means you have Myrberg tothank for the second coming of the yo-yo craze.

Dale’s wife is Sue Myrberg, and she’s a trooper. Shehelped develop certain elements of Myrberg’s showand has traveled with him to competitions and otherevents all over the world. "She’s been around this for34 years," he says. "Sometimes, she gets a little boredwith it. But she’s been a very great supporter to me. It’snot all bad for her, though. I think she’s had a lot of funat it. She went on the Japan trips. It was really fun to beable to have something like this to share with my wifeand for her to come with me and share her joy with meon these trips," he says. It’s clear that she is invaluableto him and that he is very grateful to have her.