The Answer? Ray Rude -- Inventor of the Duraflex Diving Board

The man you see pictured on the Harley Motorcycle below (taken in 1936) is the same man you see pictured above -- Ray Rude -- the inventor of the Duraflex Diving Board.

Ray dropped out of school in the 8th grade and went on to become an airplane tool manufacturer for Lockheed Martin. A neighbor was having a pool party one day and his wooden diving board broke. He stopped by Ray's shop to see if he had anything they could use. Ray had an old airplane wing panel laying around. They mounted it to the pool and as they say -- the rest is history!!

Click here to read more about this fascinating individual and his legendary invention.

The "Cheeseboard"

Divers all around the world know what a "Cheeseboard" is. That is the nickname for the 16' aluminum diving board manufactured by the Duraflex International Corporation. The actual full name for this world standard of the springboard diving world is the Duraflex 16' Modified Maxiflex Model "B" Aluminum Springboard. The word "modified" refers to the 189 perforations found in the end of the diving board. The "Cheeseboard" is the ONLY diving board used today in all Olympic, International and National Diving Competitions around the world.

The name "Cheeseboard" came about by accident. Way back in the day, Duraflex inventor Ray Rude was installing some of his new "modified" diving boards and some little kid said "hey it looks like swiss cheese" and so the name "cheeseboard" was born.

The Duraflex factory takes a 16' Maxiflex Board (tapered at both ends) and "modifies" it using a large punch-press that Ray Rude found in a junkyard -- had it shipped to the Duraflex factory where he re-tooled it to "punch" the holes in the end of the board. The process of "modifying" the diving board takes about 30 seconds.

Springboards and More uses these very punch-outs to have "Cheeseboard" earrings and bracelets made by well-known and highly respected Krombholz Jewelers in Cincinnati, OH.