Robert Bollinger excelled as an athlete on trampoline in AAU competition and turned his interest into a life-long passion. Bollinger was one of trampoline’s innovators, starting the first outdoor trampoline jump center in Sycamore, Ill., and founding Trampoline Town USA. The Northern University graduate developed the Axial Rotation System for trampoline and won the Nissen and C. H. McLoy Research Awards for his preliminary work on Axial Rotation Systems. In 1970 he invented the double-mini tramp and designed rules for competition. Along with Ted Blake and George Nissen, he is credited with creating the World Age Group competition, which was first held in 1973.