Duncan’s Yo-Yo Merlin Bill Lynch Brings Masterclass Magic to Sanco’s Toy Store-October 11, 1976

Can an ex-bank teller from Pensacola, Florida, truly find happiness peddling a childhood “fad” to millions of kids across the country?

Ask Bill Lynch, one of Duncan Yo-Yo‘s premier professional demonstrators, and a wry smile breaks across his face.

“If he practices three hours a day for three years, he can,” laughs the young maestro as he weaves his mesmerizing string magic before an enthusiastically packed audience of spellbound adults and children at Sanco’s Toy Store last Saturday.

Whirling first one and then two plastic playthings in the famous loop-to-loop trick, the 27-year-old performer proved to be the most proficient yo-yoer to hit Norwood in the three years since the last Duncan professional visited the town.

A Staple of American Life

“Yo-yos have always caught on,” points out this master of the string, speaking with more than a touch of professional pride. “They’re part of American lifestyle.”

Manufactured by Flambeau Products of Wisconsin, Duncan remains the only major company in America that actively promotes the yo-yo. To keep the magic alive, the firm dispatches young men like Bill across the country to detail the finer points of yo-yo mastery to youngsters—and nostalgic adults alike.

Mastering the Basics and Advanced Magic

Decked out in a striking red blazer, Bill paced back and forth across the store floor, instructing his audience that mastery requires learning two essential foundational maneuvers before moving on to advanced tricks:

1. The Spinner (or Sleeper)
2. The Pitch and Catch

Once those are conquered, players can progress to complex moves like the “man on the flying trapeze” or the “three-leaf clover.”

To warm up the crowd, Bill blazed through ten basic tricks detailed on handout sheets distributed to attendees, executing the creeper, walking the dog, around the world, skin the cat, rocking the baby, and sleeping beauty with flawless precision born of three hours of daily practice.

Interacting with the crowd, Bill paused to coach young Karen Harrison as she attached her yo-yo: “Relax your hand,” he lectured gently. “You don’t have to throw it that hard.”

Show-Stopping Tricks and Family Tradition

As the crowd watched like modern-day followers of Merlin, Bill rolled out his signature crowd-pleasing stunts:

• Eating “Spaghetti”: Stretching the yo-yo to the spinner position, he carefully plucked five segments of string, cupped them near his mouth, and deftly “sucked” the string inward.
• The Shooting Star: Lulling his yo-yo into a sleeper position, he flung it high into the air with the string unattached, catching it neatly inside his coat pocket. “It’s an easy trick when you have pockets as big as mine,” he joked.
• Elongated String Patterns: Forming intricate geometric shapes with his fingers and wrists, including the Eiffel Tower and a gleaming star.

When he occasionally muffed his famous “brain twister” trick—borrowed from television commercials—Bill laughed it off, explaining, “I always like to make one or two mistakes to show people I’m not working with a trick yo-yo.” He punctuated the set by unleashing a walking-the-dog stunt toward an unsuspecting viewer and grabbing two yo-yos simultaneously for a dual “around the world.”

Asked about the recent local surge in yo-yo popularity, Bill explained that Duncan has been heavily promoting the region. The company strategically revisits each market once every three years to prevent the kind of over-promotion that pushed Duncan into bankruptcy in the late 1960s.

Yo-yoing is also a deeply rooted family affair for the Lynches. Bill proudly revealed that two of his brothers, Lance and Jim, are also Duncan pros, while his 22-year-old sister, Laura, holds the distinction of being Duncan’s first female professional. While they may not be the famous King Family, Pensacola has every right to be proud of claiming what is likely the world’s only professional yo-yo family.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger