Ultimate Frisbees

While most inventions have been founded by just one or two people, ultimate Frisbee is different. Rumors have it that Frisbee has been founded by several people at different times, which explains the different kinds and forms of Frisbee that we have today.

But if you pay close attention to the history of Frisbee, you will find that the inspiration for the Frisbee gear that we have today actually came from the Frisbie Baking Company’s pie tins. Some people say that college students in New England were playing with empty pie tins by tossing and catching it.

For a more detailed history of how Frisbee came into being, here are some of the game’s important events:

1820 – a Yale student named Elihu Frisbie played with tray collections by tossing them around the campus. It was believed that the term “Frisbie” was tailored after Elihu’s last name and the letters “ie” were later on replaced with double “e’s”. This story got the most approval however, it still faces a lot of protests until today.

1871 to 1958 – the Frisbie Baking Company made pie placed on tins delivered to the different schools and colleges in New England. Ultimate Frisbee is then believed to have originated from the company’s name – college students were crazy about the pies and after eating a whole, they play with the empty tins in the air. Students found the game of tossing and catching pie tins funny and entertaining so it became very popular all over New England.

1948 – two individuals who were fans of the “pie tins” from the Baking Company made a plastic version called Pluto-platter. It was released in the market and got a positive response from consumers since UFOs were popular that time. The two people behind the plastic version were Warren Franscioni and Walter Frederick Morrison, but the former left and Morrison pursued the project on his own. Many thought the Pluto-platter was a better version since it flew higher and showed more speed and accuracy. After some time, Morrison changed the name into “Morrison Slope”.

1955 – Wham-O, a hula hoop manufacturer, convinced Morrison to sell his design and rights.

1957 – Wham-O started to reproduce the Pluto-platter.

1958 – the Frisbie Baking Company closed while Morrison on the other hand was able to collect millions of dollars for his design.

1964 – Pluto-platter went into a decline so Wham-O decided to rename and re-introduce the brand as a new toy, getting inspiration from the “pie tins” story and introduced the product as a new sports game. They called it “frisbei-ing”, while the players simply called it Frisbee.

Frisbee has changed over the years, and ultimate Frisbee is just one of its many branches. Its design and nature went through a lot of changes and modifications. However, there is no single creator of Frisbee since it is a product of a combined efforts from different individuals at different times.