Frisbees are a common sight at 4th of July cookouts. Here's their story:
A baker named William Russel Frisbie, of Warren, Connecticut and later, of Bridgeport, came up with a clever marketing idea back in the 1870s. He put the family name in relief on the bottom of the tin pans used for his company's homemade pies. That way, when people finished eating the pie, they'd get a reminder of who made it.
It wasn't long before the empty pie pans captured the imagination of bored Yale students. They began sailing the empty pie tins through the air and catching them as a fun way to pass time. Not surprisingly, they referred to the flying saucers as “Frisbies” and the game of tossing them was called “Frisbie-ing”. A new craze was born.
Fast forward to 1948. A Los Angeles building inspector and flying saucer enthusiast named Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni came up with an idea to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs. They invented a metal disc that could fly through the air. It was called a Pluto Platter. and they began to sell them for $1 through outlets like Woolworth and Disneyland. Unfortunately, sales didn't pan out as they had hoped (pun intended).
They decided to share their invention with a company named Wham-O...the makers of other classics like the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball, and the Water Wiggle...and that made all the difference. Wham-O changed the disc's name to Flyin' Saucers" and, thanks to their marketing capabilities, the sales of the discs started to take off (yes, another shameless pun)...especially after they started making them out of lightweight plastic instead of tin.
Now, this was all unbeknownce to the students at Yale who were still sailing the empty pie pans through the
air. When the president, Richard Knerr, of Wham-O Company saw them he
distributed the plastic Flying Saucers to the students. They loved it.
Knerr...being the businessman that he was...decided to change the name of his disc to "Frisbie"...but spelled it "Frisbee" to avoid legal problems. It was a match made in heaven. The popularity of playing with Frisbees soared. Soon, casual games on campus lawns and beaches were a common sight and Frisbee-ing became a favorite pastime. Why, even dogs got to loving it.
But then, something even more remarkable happened. In the 1960s, Frisbee-ing transformed from a past time into a sport...or should I say sports. In 1964 it became a professional sport, complete with a professional model of the Frisbee. Then in 1967, Maplewood, New Jersey high school students invented Ultimate Frisbee, a sport that's a cross between football, soccer, and basketball. The Frisbee used for it is larger and weighs slightly more than a regular Frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee programs are now found in 42 countries.
Post Note
Mattel, Inc. purchased Wham-O in 1994 along with the rights to the Frisbee. But other companies are now also producing versions of Frisbees.
A baker named William Russel Frisbie, of Warren, Connecticut and later, of Bridgeport, came up with a clever marketing idea back in the 1870s. He put the family name in relief on the bottom of the tin pans used for his company's homemade pies. That way, when people finished eating the pie, they'd get a reminder of who made it.
It wasn't long before the empty pie pans captured the imagination of bored Yale students. They began sailing the empty pie tins through the air and catching them as a fun way to pass time. Not surprisingly, they referred to the flying saucers as “Frisbies” and the game of tossing them was called “Frisbie-ing”. A new craze was born.
Fast forward to 1948. A Los Angeles building inspector and flying saucer enthusiast named Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni came up with an idea to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs. They invented a metal disc that could fly through the air. It was called a Pluto Platter. and they began to sell them for $1 through outlets like Woolworth and Disneyland. Unfortunately, sales didn't pan out as they had hoped (pun intended).
They decided to share their invention with a company named Wham-O...the makers of other classics like the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball, and the Water Wiggle...and that made all the difference. Wham-O changed the disc's name to Flyin' Saucers" and, thanks to their marketing capabilities, the sales of the discs started to take off (yes, another shameless pun)...especially after they started making them out of lightweight plastic instead of tin.
Knerr...being the businessman that he was...decided to change the name of his disc to "Frisbie"...but spelled it "Frisbee" to avoid legal problems. It was a match made in heaven. The popularity of playing with Frisbees soared. Soon, casual games on campus lawns and beaches were a common sight and Frisbee-ing became a favorite pastime. Why, even dogs got to loving it.
But then, something even more remarkable happened. In the 1960s, Frisbee-ing transformed from a past time into a sport...or should I say sports. In 1964 it became a professional sport, complete with a professional model of the Frisbee. Then in 1967, Maplewood, New Jersey high school students invented Ultimate Frisbee, a sport that's a cross between football, soccer, and basketball. The Frisbee used for it is larger and weighs slightly more than a regular Frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee programs are now found in 42 countries.
Post Note
Mattel, Inc. purchased Wham-O in 1994 along with the rights to the Frisbee. But other companies are now also producing versions of Frisbees.
Fun info June! I definitely didn't know this!
Happy 4th of July!!
Posted by: Kerri | July 04, 2008 at 05:12 AM
I did know most of this, but here's something that fits right in. (I thought I had found it here on your blog ... and since Carlin died ... but I haven't been able to find it.)
Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
~~~ George Carlin
Posted by: Bonnie Jacobs | July 04, 2008 at 05:30 AM
Thanks to you, now i know the story behind this fun game.
Posted by: vaggelis vlahos | July 04, 2008 at 06:33 AM
Great FF. I didn't know that and now I do! Happy 4th.
Posted by: CountryDew | July 04, 2008 at 07:54 AM
Oddly enough I don't see as many frisbees ariund- promotions or kids playing as I did some years back??
Posted by: sandy | July 04, 2008 at 08:23 AM
Great fun facts! Happy 4th! Cheers, Klaus
Posted by: Klaus | July 04, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Fairly accurate story, some of the minor details are slightly skewed, like Wham-O actually produced the Pluto Platters and later introduced the Frisbee and there are now over 2500 (not 500) disc golf courses world wide.
Have fun this weekend, throw a Frisbee!
Posted by: Mike from Sun King Disc Sports | July 04, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Mike, I appreciate the corrections…I guess my sources weren’t up to date.
Posted by: June | July 04, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Thanx for the history. I really hadn't seen a disc golf course until we moved up here 5 years ago. They are all over Wisconsin and a couple of my boys like to play. I have yet to try it.
Posted by: Lisa's Chaos | July 04, 2008 at 03:44 PM
I actually researched frisbee once too. See number 12 here: http://www.looseleafnotes.com/notes/2007/09/13_thursday_riding_the_wave.htmlThey are such a funny phenomena and the story about how they came to be is too.
Posted by: colleen | July 04, 2008 at 06:53 PM
What a fun Friday Fact for the Fourth, June! I really enjoyed reading about the history of Frisbees and, of course, I loved your puns. :-)
Posted by: Beth | July 04, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Frisbees are great fun. I do suggest, though, that they didn't sell Pluto Platters at Disneyland in 1948 as it opened for the first time around 1955.
Posted by: katney | July 05, 2008 at 03:31 PM