[PHOTOS] Original Foam Finger Was Made In Iowa

Sports are back in full swing, so that means that fans are back in the stands. And since it's been a while since many of us have gone to major sporting events, we might as well try and pick up a few things to remember these moments.

Just don't drain your bank account with all the souvenirs you might be buying...

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After some research, I found out that one of the most popular souvenirs in sports originally came from Iowa.

The iconic foam finger that you see someone waving around at every single sporting event might just be the most popular piece of sports memorabilia. If you log on to eBay and search "foam fingers" you'll actually get back 3,360 results.

If you want to be a big spender, maybe you might like to check out the most expensive foam finger on the site. The current highest big for this Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers Nike 24 Foam Finger is $3,675.00.

While this is pretty impressive, it's not nearly as impressive as this interesting fact...

It turns out that the very first foam finger EVER was made right here in Iowa.

Ottumwa, IA Home of the 1st "Foam Finger"

While it's not a "foam finger" this Iowa student was credited with the prototype for the famed sports digit. Steve Chmelar of Ottumwa created this paper-mâché finger for a high school event in 1971. The Ottumwa High School student made it out of hardware cloth and paper-mâché for the 1971 Iowa High School Athletic Association Boy’s State Basketball Finals, between the Ottumwa Bulldogs and the Davenport West Falcons.

And do you remember the whole Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus situation from back in 2013? Cyrus used her foam finger in a...lewd way at the MTV Video Music Awards. Chmelar was all across the media being interviewed by different outlets about foam fingers. As reported, he claimed that Miley Cyrus" certainly misrepresented its intent to encourage team support."