George Nissen: the man who got you high when you were a kid.

Given the nature of athleticism, it stands to reason that what makes a legend most is performance. Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Lance Armstrong; these are the ones that will be remembered forever. Yet, at the end of the day, their perspective sports would have done just fine without them. True, occasionally an athlete such as Muhammad Ali or Billie Jean King progresses their sport for their race or gender, which is hugely important, but other than that, athletes ride fast, hit hard, throw fast. Sure, that's inspiring and all, but did it really change the world?

I mention this because George Nissen died last week at 96. In all honesty, I didn't know about him until I read his obituary. Have you heard of him? Even if not, you've had an up and down relationship with him your whole life. Nissen invented the trampoline.

From the Los Angeles Times:

In high school, Nissen was a gymnast and diver when he made the serendipitous visit to the circus. Watching the acrobats rebound, he wondered if the net could help him train for his sports, he later said.

An early prototype crafted from canvas and junkyard scraps gave way to his first usable model, developed in 1934 from strips of inner-tube rubber while he was a University of Iowa student.

His coach, Larry Griswold, and the school of engineering gave him an assist.

At a YMCA summer swimming camp, Nissen tested out the bouncer. When "nobody wanted to go swimming," he knew he was onto something, Nissen told Reuters news service in 2000.

At first thought, the idea of trampolines is a little silly, but think of their impact -- and, no, I'm not talking about the Man Show's "Girls on Trampolines" segment. From their official use in Olympic sports to their use as fitness tool to the ability they have to exhaust any five-year-old in 45 minutes or less, they've changed the world.

So we all need to raise a protein shake to George Nissen. And tonight, when my bounced-out daughter goes to bed at a decent so that I can do my back rehab exercises in peace, I'll thank him again, because that's more useful to me than any home run or slam dunk ever was.