Abstract:
James Emory Gibson of High Point is one of North Carolina's greatest success stories. In 1931, in debt $75,000 during the Depression and with a family of six to provide for, Gibson parleyed a 10-cent paddleball game into a company that would sell in 1972 for $1.6 million. He repaid the debt. The game was Fli-Back, a game that challenged players to continuously bounce a sponge-ball that was attached to a small wooden paddle with an elastic string.