Watch a 3 minute review of Tom’s snowboarding history, with film clips and photos.
5 thoughts on “Sims Brand Returns – Video”
Bruce R Friedrich
Fact: Tom Sims invented the snowboard. We were in Mr. Byers shop class at Haddonfield Junior High School together when we were in 7th grade. He first design was shaped like a 3/4 inch thick skateboard deck with carpet glued to the top, and the bottom edges beveled and the entire bottom covered in ski wax.. We tested them on the rolling hills at Tavistock Country Club. They were very fast but when you turned the board, you kept going straight. Tom tried putting rails on the bottom covered with metal sheeting but the boards still were difficult to control. He then took rubber strips from bicycle tire inner tubes and stretched two strips, one towards the front and the other towards the back, at about a 45 degree angle from one edge of the top to the other and tacked down the ends. Slip your feet under the straps and you wherever the board went. Voila! The snowboard was born!
At our 40th reunion which Tom attended, Tom and I played golf at Tavistock. Near the tee at the 15th, Tom had me take pictures of him leaning over the steep hill overlooking the pond on the 14th hole. He told me this was the spot he first tested his prototype. Tavistock installed a bronze placque there in Tom’s honor.
Tom and I were best friends in high school. He would hand me down his latest creation to test ride while he would be riding his very newest board. We started riding his first boards in 1963 at Tavistock and the last time we rode his conventional boards together was about 2005 in California at an event honoring Tom. I recently build a commemorative board that is exactly like the first board he built. It resides in the display case at Tavistock CC. I still snowboard today, just go a lot slower. RIP Ptomi! ………..Stude
I was sorry to find out Tom Sims had passed away 6 or 7 years ago. I had know him growing up in Hadddonfield and later at Hawthorne College in Antrim, N.H.
Twenty some years ago I was going stop in and see him in California on my way back to the East Coast (I’ve lived in Hawaii, for 40 years), but I forget why we didn’t make the connection.
Fact: Tom Sims invented the snowboard. We were in Mr. Byers shop class at Haddonfield Junior High School together when we were in 7th grade. He first design was shaped like a 3/4 inch thick skateboard deck with carpet glued to the top, and the bottom edges beveled and the entire bottom covered in ski wax.. We tested them on the rolling hills at Tavistock Country Club. They were very fast but when you turned the board, you kept going straight. Tom tried putting rails on the bottom covered with metal sheeting but the boards still were difficult to control. He then took rubber strips from bicycle tire inner tubes and stretched two strips, one towards the front and the other towards the back, at about a 45 degree angle from one edge of the top to the other and tacked down the ends. Slip your feet under the straps and you wherever the board went. Voila! The snowboard was born!
Special memory. Thanks for sharing.
At our 40th reunion which Tom attended, Tom and I played golf at Tavistock. Near the tee at the 15th, Tom had me take pictures of him leaning over the steep hill overlooking the pond on the 14th hole. He told me this was the spot he first tested his prototype. Tavistock installed a bronze placque there in Tom’s honor.
Tom and I were best friends in high school. He would hand me down his latest creation to test ride while he would be riding his very newest board. We started riding his first boards in 1963 at Tavistock and the last time we rode his conventional boards together was about 2005 in California at an event honoring Tom. I recently build a commemorative board that is exactly like the first board he built. It resides in the display case at Tavistock CC. I still snowboard today, just go a lot slower. RIP Ptomi! ………..Stude
I was sorry to find out Tom Sims had passed away 6 or 7 years ago. I had know him growing up in Hadddonfield and later at Hawthorne College in Antrim, N.H.
Twenty some years ago I was going stop in and see him in California on my way back to the East Coast (I’ve lived in Hawaii, for 40 years), but I forget why we didn’t make the connection.