Name tag given to Sherman Poppen, "the grandfather of snowboarding." Sherman Poppen, inventor of the snurfer, a predecessor of the modern snowboard needed a distraction for his two little girls on Christmas day in 1965. The kids were restless and his pregnant wife, Nancy, needed a break so Poppen took them outside to play in the Wisconsin snow. Bored with sledding, Poppen bound two children’s water skis together, tied a rope to the front and the Snurfer was born. Nancy combined the words “snow and surf” for the moniker “snurf” and pretty soon Poppen was building snurfers for all of the neighborhood kids.
