History Of The Frisbee
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980218.htm
Every object has a history, and behind that history an inventor, the person who thought it up first.
Sometimes who was first can be a topic for hot debate: often several people independent of each
other will all think of the same good idea at around the same time and will later have to argue
"No it was me, I thought of it first." Many people have claimed to have invented the Frisbee.
The Frisbie Baking Company (1871-1958) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies that were sold
to many New England colleges. Hungry college students soon discovered that the empty pie tins
could be tossed and caught, providing endless hours of game and sport. Many colleges have
claimed to be the home of 'he who was first to fling.' Yale College has even argued that in 1820,
a Yale undergraduate named Elihu Frisbie grabbed a passing collection tray from the chapel and
flung it out into the campus, thereby becoming the true inventor of the Frisbie and winning glory
for Yale. That tale is unlikely to be true since the words 'Frisbie's Pies' was embossed in all the
original pie tins and from the word 'Frisbie' was coined the common name for the toy.
In 1948, a Los Angeles building inspector named Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner
Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the Frisbie that could fly further and with better
accuracy than a tin pie plate. Morrison's father was also an inventor, who invented the
automotive sealed-beam headlight. Another interesting tidbit was that Morrison had just returned
to America after World War II, where he had been a prisoner in the infamous Stalag 13. His
partnership with Warren Franscioni, who was also a war veteran, ended before their product had
achieved any real success.
Morrison (after his split with Franscioni) produced a plastic Frisbie called the Pluto Platter, to
cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs with the American public. The Pluto Platter has
become the basic design for all Frisbies. The outer third of the Frisbie disc is called the 'Morrison
Slope', listed in the patent. Rich Knerr and A.K. 'Spud' Melin were the owners of a new toy
company called 'Wham-O'. Knerr and Melin also marketed the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and
the Water Wiggle. They pair first saw Morrison's Pluto Platter in late 1955. They liked what they
saw and convinced Morrison to sell them the rights to his design. With a deal signed, Wham-O
began production (1/13/1957) of more Pluto Platters. The next year, the original Frisbie Baking
Company shut down and coincidentally Fred Morrison was awarded a patent (Design patent
183,626) for his flying disc. Morrison received over one million dollars in royalties for his
invention.
The word 'Frisbee' is pronounced the same as the word 'Frisbie'. Rich Knerr (Wham-O) was in
search of a catchy new name to help increase sales, after hearing about the original use of the
terms 'Frisbie' and 'Frisbie-ing'. He borrowed from the two words to create the registered
trademark Frisbee ®. Sales soared for the toy, due to Wham-O's clever marketing of Frisbee
playing as a new sport. In 1964, the first professional model went on sale. Ed Headrick was the
inventor at Wham-O who patented Wham-O's designs for the modern frisbee (U.S. patent
3,359,678). Ed Headrick's frisbee with its band of raised ridges called the Rings of Headrick had
stablized flight as opposed to the wobbly flight of its predecessor the Pluto Platter.
In 1967, high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a
recognized sport that is a cross between football, soccer and basketball. Ten years later, a form of
Frisbee golf was introduced, complete with professional playing courses and associations.
Another Great Frisbee Moment: In 1968, the U.S. Navy spends almost $400,000 to study
Frisbees in wind tunnels, following their flights with computers and cameras, and building a
special Frisbee-launching machine on top of a Utah cliff to test a prototype flare launcher.
Today the fifty year old Frisbee® is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, only one of at least
sixty manufacturers of flying discs. Wham-O sold over one hundred million units before the
selling the toy to Mattel.
One of the original Frisbee Pie plates
Patent Drawing for Ed Headrick's Wham-O Frisbee
The History Of Ultimate Frisbee
http://ultimatefrisbeeinfo.com/ultimate_frisbee_history.html#ultimate_frisbee_history
http://www.whatisultimate.com/history/history_game1_en.html
The Ultimate Frisbee history begins with Joel Silver, a graduate of Lafayette College, proposed a
school Frisbee team on a whim in the fall of 1968. The following spring, a group of students got
together to play what Silver claimed to be the "ultimate game experience," adapting the sport
from a form of Frisbee football, likely learned from Jared Kass while attending a summer camp
at Northfield Mount Hermon, Massachusetts where Kass was teaching. The students who played
and codified the rules at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, were an eclectic
group of students including leaders in academics, student politics, the student newspaper, and
school dramatic productions. One member of the original team was Walter Sabo, who went on to
be a major figure in the American radio business. The sport became identified as a counterculture
activity. The first definitive history of the sport was published in December 2005, ULTIMATE:
The First Four Decades.
While the rules governing movement and scoring of the disc have not changed through Frisbee
History, the early Columbia High School games had sidelines that were defined by the parking
lot of the school and team sizes based on the number of players that showed up. Gentlemanly
behavior and gracefulness were held high. (A foul was defined as contact "sufficient to arouse
the ire of the player fouled.") No referees were present, which still holds true today: all ultimate
matches (even at high level events) are self-officiated. At higher levels of play 'observers' are
often present. Observers only make calls when appealed to by one of the teams, at which point
the result is binding.
CHS Varsity Frisbee Squad:
(Top row from left to right) Captain Joel Silver, Head Coach Cono Pavone, Bob Mittlesdorf, Jonny Hines, Buzzy
Hellring, Arnold Tzoltic, Joe Staker, Paul Brenner, Tom Carr, Mark Epstein, General Manager Alexander
Osinski, (Second row) Tom Corwin, Frisbee (Pro Model), David Medinets, David Leiwant, (Third row) Fred
Appelgate, Howard Straubing, Steve German, Vincent, (Laying down) Steve Schwartz, Frisbee (Master Model).