
The inventor of the red Solo cup has died - ourmandave
http://kfor.com/2016/12/29/pour-one-out-the-inventor-of-red-solo-cup-has-died/
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Ocerge
I always found it funny that European students at my university were shocked
that we really did play beer pong with red solo cups in the States. Some of
them even took a cup home as a souvenir.

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bbrian
I once, in Ireland, threw a teen movie themed party. The red cups were key to
it. I had to order them on eBay but they were weren't real Solo cups, just
cardboard. They still went down a treat! Eventually somebody capitalised on
the novelty and started importing them.

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stcredzero
My experience with the Irish from the early 00's, is that they thought those
red party cups are the most horrible thing ever, and they thought it funny
that we use them. If the people I met ever used them, it was with irony. In
the late 90's German business guys thought that Breath Savers were just like
phenolic cakes from urinals and thought it was hilarious to feed them to their
American coworkers. I get the same vibe from both situations.

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ChuckMcM
Personally I'm more interested in the people with the green Solo cups :-)

On a more serious note, this is a remarkably good cup for its volume. We used
to "stock" them at Blekko for people who were getting water or needed a
drinking cup. One of my hats there was to keep the larder full and I ordered
some alternate cups (less expensive) one time and quickly realized they didn't
hold up well when full and were too easily squeezed leading to potential
crack/leak failures. Clearly the guy had put a lot of thought into something
which, on the outside, seemed fairly simple.

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rmason
Four years ago Solo was purchased by Dart Container for $1 billion. Dart is
South of me in the small town of Mason, Michigan and they keep a very low
profile locally.

[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturin...](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/story/2012-03-22/solo-
cup-dart-container-purchase/53704060/1)

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oxide
From beer pong with close friends in my early 20s, to house parties with
random folks in my teen years.

All the way to now, in my late 20s, those close knit house parties becoming
much more close knit around a game of beer pong and good company.

I owe it all to the red solo cup.

Thanks, Red Solo inventor. For everything. you've given a shy boy a lot to be
thankful for over the years.

My friends and I will mourn this loss the only way we know how, with beer
pong, over new years.

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exabrial
Oddly enough, the subject of a country music song:
[https://youtu.be/BKZqGJONH68](https://youtu.be/BKZqGJONH68)

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sofaofthedamned
Was in the article, but is indeed a superb tune.

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mixmastamyk
Real men of genius…

Mr. Red Solo Cup In-VENT-or

Today we salute you…

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nommm-nommm
For non Americans and young people, this reference is to the Real Men of
Genius series of (originally radio) commercials for Budweiser (specifically
Bud Light). They humorously mockingly "saluted" eccentric men and men with
eccentric traits and took the format of the parent comment ending in a
suggestion to "crack open a Bud Light." I could -totally- see them doing a
"Mr. Red Solo Cup Inventor" one. Does this exist?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Men_of_Genius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Men_of_Genius)

[https://youtu.be/lsC3ni7A88M](https://youtu.be/lsC3ni7A88M) (Examples)

[https://youtu.be/OdGj-FVxOcs](https://youtu.be/OdGj-FVxOcs) (my personal fav)

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bdcravens
The voice of those commercials, Dave Bickler, was previously best known for
his vocals on "Eye of the Tiger"

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mixmastamyk
Yes, the voice of the lead singer though, not the narrator.

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bedhead
The Hulseman's live close to where I grew up and I went to school with his
kids. Super nice family.

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gkop
Can any old-timers here comment on whether or not beer pong pre-dated this
cup, and if so, what were the prior cups of choice?

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mikestew
In my part of the world, I don't recall beer pong being a thing before the
80s. My prime beer pong years were spent playing "quarters":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarters_(game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarters_\(game\)).
We used shot glasses for that (hard to bounce a quarter into a Solo cup).

You drank your keg beer out of a Solo cup, though, as it has always been since
the ancient times.

