Sam Suddarth. Click to enlarge.
photo by Holly Abernathy
Somewhere in the world a child is playing with a yoyo that was created from string, glue, hot water pipe, discarded compact discs and the hands of a man named Sam.
Sam Suddarth is the kind of person that once you meet him you know instantly that you’ve met someone special. He’s been retired for the last 25 years from the carpenter shop at DuPont. He is 80 years of age and uses his spare time in an extraordinary way. Sam makes toys for children locally and in other countries, and it’s the effort and creativity from the beginning to the end of the process that makes both Sam and the toys unique.
I had the pleasure of meeting Sam one day when I actually took the time to do it. I work in radio broadcasting. As with most industries, it’s easy to become cynical after a length of time and experience if you allow it. Opportunities to keep that cynicism foreign present themselves day after day if we’re not too busy to notice them. Fortunately, Sam came around often and I was reminded that there are still people willing to give unselfishly of their time and of themselves.
Occasionally, Sam would come down to the offices of the radio station. I would get a call from Marge, the receptionist, asking if I had any extra CD’s for him. Every few weeks, the program director would place a bin in the hallway filled with CD singles of various recording artists hoping to get some “spins” on the air.
The CD’s that made it to the bins never made it to the airwaves, so I began to put some of them aside in the receptionist area for this person named Sam. One day after receiving a call from Marge, I decided to go downstairs and meet him face to face.
Originally from Nashville, Sam moved to Chattanooga in 1951 to work for DuPont. He met and married his wife of 51 years, Aza, and continued his employment until he retired from DuPont in 1981.
When I asked Sam how he got the idea of making yoyo’s from old CD’s, he replied with a chuckle, “I had to try to find something to do when I got too old to play golf.” Sam said the idea was born after turning some old CD’s into a sun catcher with glue and fishing line. Sam began to act on his ideas along with the help of a friend, Jack Gill, before Jack had a stroke. Sam continued with his ideas at a kitchen table in his basement until, from CD’s, hot glue and ½” hot water pipe; the first CD yoyo was completed. Soon children in Chattanooga, Mexico, Nicaragua, Grenada, Guatemala and many other places would be playing with yoyos made by Sam.
Before Sam could distribute the yoyos, he needed more supplies. It was 2003 when he went to a radio station in Nashville to see if they had any CD’s they were throwing away. They said they didn’t have any but a man in the lobby overheard his conversation. Sam explained what he was doing and the man invited him to come to his house. He ended up giving him 34 boxes, each containing 30 compact discs. That was enough to get him started.
Shortly thereafter, Sam and a few members of his church were getting ready to embark on a church building trip to Nicaragua. Sam, also a bricklayer, was part of the construction group and took the first 300 yoyos with him on a trip in 2003 and distributed more on a similar trip in 2004.
Since that time he has stopped by the offices of WDEF and WDOD to collect the discarded compact discs. Mark Colbert, program director at WUTC, Bill Claiborne of WFLI, and Mike Morell of Flickos Video Workshop have all contributed to his efforts.
Nearing the end of my talk with Sam, I couldn’t help but wonder what motivated him to do this. “When you go to Nicaragua or you see the kids from Mexico or you see someone who doesn’t have toys, you see what they don’t have and that anything you give them is appreciated. It’s been a lot of fun just to see all the kids playing with them and see how it’s developed over a year or two,” he said.
So far Sam has made over 1,200 yoyos. His construction group at East Ridge Church of Christ has another trip to Nicaragua scheduled for February. Sam says he is not sure if he’ll be able to go, but either way more than 300 yoyos will go with them. “I can pretty much do everything except blow out the candles on a birthday cake. You have to be careful doing that when you have false teeth.”
Sam’s CD yoyos have been distributed to local Vacation Bible Schools, T.C. Thompson’s Children’s Hospital, Peru, Jamaica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Grenada and right here in Chattanooga. The recording artist’s songs may not have hit the airwaves here, but happy children somewhere in the world are “spinning” their CD’s thanks to Sam.
If you, your church or non—profit organization would like more information about Sam Suddarth and his CD yoyos or would like to donate any of the materials necessary to produce these toys, you can contact him directly by calling 423-825-5821 or by emailing wauchat@hotmail.com.
Improvised yoyo
photo by Holly Abernathy