1976 NERF Catalog
NERF stands for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam (thanks wikipedia!) and was first introduced to households in 1969 as the the first indoor ball, With it’s success, saw many other application for this fun and safe material. 40 years after it’s introduction, NERF is still widely available which is a testament to how timeless an idea it really is. 1976 was a good year for NERF, we’ve go planes, cars and missiles as well as NERF’s own Superhero in NERF MAN! This catalog is kind of special to me as it belonged to my dad and you can see some of his pricing notes on some of the pages. Click on the pages for a better view.
I had the orange-and-black soccer ball, which came out a couple of years later. Loved it, but if it got rained on, the foam then dried off and started falling apart.
Yeah, water was an enemy of nerf. But that never keot us from taking the football in the pool to drench it and toss it around.
And, that catalog is awesome. The fact that it was your dad's makes it that much more special.
I owned a Nerf Man – He didn't fly very well and his cape eventually broke off, but I have fond memories of playing with him anyway.
I also owned many original Nerf footballs, and have even bought a used one on ebay. I enjoy the all-weather Nerf footballs they make today, but I wish they still made their original classic footballs. The ones they make now are just not the same.