Fli-Back Sales Corporation

James Emory Gibson started the Fliback Company in 1931. It came about when my he was suffering thru the depression and trying to find something else to supplement his income. His oldest sister, Josephine, came home with a toy given away at an ice cream store which was a primitive version of a paddleball. He thought that this was an item he could easily manufacture and that it had good play value and could be sold cheap.

The end result was that he ended up making millions of them and diversified into other simple toys such as spinning tops, yo-yos, balloons, rubber balls, etc. By the 1950s the Fliback Company was selling world wide and employed several hundred workers.

Subject ID: 12757

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James Emory Gibson started the Fliback Company in 1931. It came about when my he was suffering thru the depression and trying to find something else to supplement his income. His oldest sister, Josephine, came home with a toy given away at an ice cream store which was a primitive version of a paddleball. He thought that this was an item he could easily manufacture and that it had good play value and could be sold cheap.

The end result was that he ended up making millions of them and diversified into other simple toys such as spinning tops, yo-yos, balloons, rubber balls, etc. By the 1950s the Fliback Company was selling world wide and employed several hundred workers.

The company was sold to Ohio Art company in 1972 and started a downward spiral. The Hedstrom company was the final owner who eventually closed the factory in North Carolina and moved the remaining production to Mississippi in the 1980s. Apparently Hedstrom has now ceased manufacturing any toys under the Fli-back brand names and may now actually be out of business altogether. 

Subject ID: 12757

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