Sherman Poppen was just trying to get his daughters out of the house on Christmas Day in 1965, so he bolted together a pair of kid’s skis, then gave the creation to them so they could ride down the Lake Michigan dunes behind his house. Who would have thought then that his idea would evolve into the popular pastime of snowboarding, which now is an Olympic sport?
His kids had so much fun with his contraption that Poppen went into his workshop and customized a board better suited for snow. His wife, Nancy, christened the invention the “snurfer,” noting that the board allowed the rider to surf on snow. The idea was picked up locally by Brunswick Corp., which manufactured the snurfer for distribution around the country.
It would be almost 20 years before snowboarding really took off, but Poppen’s invention was not forgotten. Poppen was presented the “Tranny Award” in 1995 at the Fifth Annual TransWorld Snowboarding Industry Conference, hosted in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Given annually to an individual in the snowboarding industry for lifetime achievement in the sport, the honor has been presented to the biggest names in the industry, including Jake Burton Carpenter, Tom Sims, Dimitrije Milovich, and Craig Kelly. Hailed as the “Father of Snowboarding,” Poppen also was featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Inventions” program for his snurfer.
A Muskegon High School graduate, Poppen was a successful and civic-minded businessman. He also was a skilled sailor and longtime member of the Muskegon Yacht Club. Following his retirement, Poppen took to the hills of Colorado to learn how to snowboard, riding the slopes with kids one-third his age.
“I figured I started this thing,” Poppen told The Muskegon Chronicle, “so I’d better get into it.”
