World champ's mastery hangs by thread

KENNEWICK — John Bozung's name may not ring a bell. In fact, many may ask, "Who is that yo-yo?"

Bozung, 52, is more than a project engineer for Lampson cranes and the first, or so he claims, to drive around the Tri-Cities in a Hummer, a red 1992 LE model. Now he is also a world champion after winning the sports division of the 2002 World Yo-Yo Contest.

"It turns from a hobby into an obsession after a while," the Kennewick resident said. "Hey, but at least now I have bragging rights."

Bozung recently took his yo-yo hobby to Orlando, Fla., finishing first in the sports division and bringing home a gold medal to prove it.

"I know way more than I should about yo-yos," Bozung said. "People make fun of what I do, but I love it."

The passion began for Bozung when he was 8 years old. Bozung, then of Tacoma and in a family of 10, worked at a local drugstore.

His boss gave him a yo-yo one day, and Bozung began to practice. He won a local contest and placed third in a state competition before putting the yo-yo away.

"I thought I grew out of yo-yos," he said.

But in 1972, he was in a car accident and hurt a biceps muscle. One of his brothers gave him a yo-yo, and Bozung used it to rehabilitate his arm. His love for yo-yos blossomed again.

"I couldn't do many tricks at first, but I was intrigued to learn more," Bozung said.

As computers hit his workplace, frustration mounted. Bozung said he used yo-yos as a stress reliever.

"I would take 15-minute breaks from work and play with a yo-yo," he said. "I started getting better and better."

He now takes a yo-yo wherever he goes.

Bozung competed in last year's national competition in Chico, Calif., placing first in his age group and second overall. He knew he had a shot in Orlando.

He went to the World Yo-Yo Contest to compete but also to watch the other competitors.

"You should see what the kids there can do," he said. "They are amazing and fun to watch."

One of them is Sandra Pajarola, who traveled from Switzerland for the 2000 world competition.

Pajarola, whose left side is partly paralyzed by a muscle-rigidity disorder, has invented a new style of yo-yoing. Pajarola swings the yo-yo while she is lying down or on her abdomen, defying gravity and mystifying audiences.

"Yo-yoing is similar to ballet," she explained. "It has to look very easy to the crowd, and I have to have perfect harmony between me and the yo-yo."

The world contest consists of five divisions. The A division features elite one-handed contestants, AA is two-handed, X is for extreme players whose yo-yos are not connected to the string, and AP is for artistic-performance routines.

In the sports division, each contestant must climb a "trick ladder," or a list of tricks. Whoever gets the farthest up the ladder wins. Bozung completed 22 of the 25 tricks.

Bozung admitted that his hobby can hit the pocketbook pretty hard.

"Any hobby can get expensive," he said. "Ask a fly fisherman how much he spends."

Bozung owns nearly 250 yo-yos, and one called the Samurai cost him $200. The competitions he's won offer no cash prizes, just trophies and medals.

"I do it for the love of the sport," he said.

Bozung plans to continue practicing and competing, and will perform for kids in classrooms.

His real dream, though, is to perform for a living.

"I'd quit my job tomorrow," he said, if given the chance.