On a hot summer day in 1906, a young man paddled his rowboat across a lake to fetch some ice cream for his fiancé. As he did, he thought about how much easier the task would be if he had a motor on his boat. That young man’s name was Ole Evinrude.
Following that fateful journey, Ole went to work developing his idea. And in 1909, he built the first commercial “detachable row-boat engine.” By 1911, company was running along as smoothly as an Evinrude outboard. But winter sales were slow, until Ole’s wife Bess (the ice cream girl) came up with an
international business plan. Within days of meeting with a big export company, an order for 1,000 motors was signed! Evinrude had become a global brand.
By 1913, Evinrude was selling nearly 10,000 motors. However, in 1914, Bess became ill and Ole decided to sell his 50% stake in the company to his business partner Chris Meyer. The price was $137,500.
Bess’ health rebounded, so she and Ole decided to use the $35,000 they had left and get back into the outboard game in 1920. Business was good. So good, in fact, that in 1929 a business tycoon named Stephen Briggs created the Outboard Motors Corporation (OMC) and purchased the Evinrude brand. Briggs made Ole the President of OMC.
Innovation really took off from there. The next year, the first electric-start Evinrude outboards made their debut. In 1932, they introduced rubber mounts to cushion the motors against vibration. Technology was changing fast! It was an exciting time. But for Ole, things were about to change.
In 1933 Ole’s dear wife Bess passed away. Perhaps from a broken heart, Ole died the following year. He was 57. The Evinrude name, however, was still a driving force as their one son Ralph Evinrude followed in Dad’s footsteps and became the new President of OMC at age 27.
During all of this activity, another outboard company was making waves: Johnson. To thwart their competition, Ralph Evinrude and Briggs invested $800,000 of their own money to buy Johnson. They allowed each brand to function as individual businesses, and encouraged fierce combination between
the two.
The next 10 years were big for OMC. They contributed to the war effort by making airplane parts, while learning new manufacturing processes along the way. After World War II, with the American spirit soaring, people took to the water like never before. Outboard motor sales records were smashed.
By the mid 1950s, a huge new factory in Milwaukee had been built to handle demand. Evinrude outboard motors continued to get bigger, stronger, faster and more dependable. In fact, Evinrude’s Starflite II set a world record for unlimited class outboards in 1960, propelling a boat to a whopping 122.97 miles per hour!
Innovations like push-button shifting, Evinrude snowmobile engines, a new 115-horsepower production engine and other breakthroughs soon followed. Then, in 1973, the world saw Evinrude in all its glory when James Bond used his 135-horsepower Evinrude Starflite to jump his boat 100 feet in the Bond film “Live and Let Die.” The actual jump, performed by a stuntman, set a Guiness World Record for longest boat jump.
During subsequent years, Evinrude was the first to develop both 200- and 235-horsepower V6s. But it wasn’t just big motors that were turning heads, because they put just as much pride into their economical 25, 40 and 55-horsepower Worktwins.
By 1996, Evinrude set all-time sales records. However, since economies can and do change so quickly, just four years later things were bleak for Evinrude. They closed the doors and filed for bankruptcy in 2000.
The next year, knowing that the Evinrude name was too genuine to retire, Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) acquired the brand and soon Evinrudes were once again rolling off the assembly line.
This was great news for millions of anglers worldwide, including myself. Because what Evinrude created next was the now-famous E-TEC. I’ve got one on the back of my boat and I dare say it’s the most impressive Evinrude since Ole’s first one in 1906. Best of all, it’s incredibly kind to the environment and is the only outboard to receive the EPA’s Clean Air Excellence Award.
This year, after introducing the new 2009 E-TEC lineup, Evinrude has set a 100-year milestone. So on behalf of myself and everyone who has had the pleasure to hit the water with a classic Evinrude making the wake, I want to congratulate Evinrude for a century of great fishing and family memories.
Ole and Bess would be proud.
Good Fishing!
Babe Winkelman is a nationally-known outdoorsman who has taught people to fish and hunt for more than 25 years. Watch the award-winning “Good Fishing” and “Outdoor Secrets” television shows on Versus (formerly OLN), Fox Sports Net, Comcast Southeast, WILD TV and many local networks.By: Babe Winkelman / Babe Winkelman Productions
