HEROS PLAYING HARD

Fred Morrison discovered a market for the modern-day flying disc in

1938 when he and future wife, Lucile, were offered 25 cents for a

cake pan that they were tossing back and forth on a beach in Santa

Monica, California, beach. "That got the wheels turning, because you

could buy a cake pan for five cents, and if people on the beach were

willing to pay a quarter for it, well - there was a business," Morrison

told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2007.

They continued their business until World War II, when Morrison

served in the Army Air Force, flying a P-47s, and then was a prisoner

of war. Mustered out, Morrison sketched a design for an

aerodynamically improved flying disc that he called the Whirlo-Way.

By 1948, after design modifications and experimentation with several

prototypes, Morrison and business partner Warren Franscioni began

producing the first plastic discs, renaming them the Flyin-Saucer in

the wake of reported unidentified-flying-object sightings.

"We worked fairs, demonstrating it," Morrison told the Virginian-Pilot.

The two of them once overheard someone saying the pair were

using wires to make the discs hover, so they developed a sales

pitch: "The Flyin-Saucer is free, but the invisible wire is $1." "That's

where we learned we could sell these things," he said, because

people were enthusiastic about them.

Morrison and Franscioni ended their partnership in early 1950, and

in 1954 Morrison formed his own company, called American Trends,

to buy and sell Flyin-Saucers, which were by then being made of a

flexible polypropylene plastic from Southern California Plastics, the

original molder. After learning that he could produce his own disc

more cheaply, in 1955 Morrison designed a new model, the Pluto

Platter, the archetype of all modern flying discs. He sold the rights to

Wham-O on January 23, 1957, and in 1958 Morrison was awarded

U.S. Design Patent D183,626 for his product.

In June 1957, Wham-O co-founder Richard Knerr decided to

stimulate sales by giving the discs the additional brand name Frisbee

(pronounced "friz'-bee"), after learning that Northeastern college

students were calling the Pluto Platter by that name, the

term "Frisbee" coming from the name of the Bridgeport, CT pie

manufacturer Frisbie Pie Company. "I thought the name was a

horror. Terrible," Morrison told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside in

2007. In 1982, Morrison told Forbes magazine that he had received

about US$2 million in royalty payments and said: "I wouldn't change

the name of it for the world."

The man behind the Frisbee's phenomenal success, however, was

Edward "Steady Ed" Headrick (Pasadena, Cal., June 28, 1924 — La

Selva Beach, Cal., August 12, 2002), hired in 1964 as Wham-O's

new general manager and vice president in charge of marketing.

Headrick soon redesigned the Pluto Platter by reworking the rim

thickness and top design, creating a more controllable disc that could

be thrown accurately.

Sales skyrocketed for the toy, which was marketed as a new sport.

In 1964, the first professional model went on sale. Headrick patented

the new design, highlighting the new raised ridges (the "Rings of

Headrick") that stabilized flight and marketed and pushed the

Professional Model Frisbee and "Frisbee" as a sport. (U.S. Patent

3,359,678).

Headrick, who became known as the father of Frisbee sports, later

founded and appointed Dan "Stork" Roddick as head of the

International Frisbee Association. Stork began establishing North

American Series (NAS) tournament standards for various Frisbee

sports such as Distance, Freestyle and Guts. Upon his death,

Headrick was cremated, and, as requested by him, his ashes were

molded into memorial Frisbees and given to family and close friends

and sold to benefit the The Ed Headrick Memorial Museum.

Fire - rescue playing as if their lifes depended on winning...

using all their strength....

and they will smile my way...

The frisbee, is a flying disc game, as well as a precision and accuracy sport, in which individual players throw a flying disc at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc. The number of disc golf courses doubled in the 8 years from 2000 to 2008. The game is played in about 40 countries around the world.

the hippie area of Miami, were lots of young people hang-out, specially by CocoWalk mall. Right next to were they playing is an area were the Homeless gather daily.

because the disc represents the next delicate life they have to risk it all to save...amazing heros!

Hi Jorge,

  Great action shots with wonderful colors.  Take care, Patsy

Great story and photos my friend. Well put together as always. The shot with the homeless watching was intriguing.

Best,

Holger

Very nice action shots, Jorge!

Bravo my querido amigo and thank you for your novel on my self-portrait, ha!

Cheers to that

PDE

Nice and very pleasant series, like you know to do!!! Ciao, Maurizio.

This amazing series captures the fire, the spirit - indeed, the essence of ultimate frisbee.  The sport is not for the faint of heart, but not because of brutality.  It requires exceptional conditioning, body control, and skill.  In my younger days, I tried playing and quickly realized that it wasn't for me.

By the way, if not for the 2 players on the extreme right and left, this image would yield the impression that the game is being played under a dome.  Of course, anything's possible in the Magic City.

My best always,

michael