Frisbee - History of Frisbee

Frisbee

The Frisbee was created by an American inventor, Walter Frederick Morrison, in 1948. Fred Morrison and his wife liked to play by throwing upside-down cake pans to each other on the beaches in California. Throwing cake or pie pans wasn't new, but Fred Morrison had the idea to make a plastic version. An investor named Warren Franscioni partnered with Morrison to get the idea off the ground.

After years of selling his flying discs at fairs and shows, Fred Morrison made a deal with a toy company, Wham-O Manufacturing, in 1957. The founders of Wham-O heard college students use a different name for the discs. The "Frisbie Baking Company" made pies in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and throwing their pie pans had been happening on college campuses for years. Every pie pan was stamped, "Frisbie's Pies". Wham-O registered the trademark name "Frisbee", and added it to the discs in 1958. After that, Frisbees began flying off the shelves, and became a popular toy all over the world.

  • The first name for the plastic toy Fred Morrison sold in 1948 was the "Flyin' Saucer". The first sighting of saucer-shaped Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in the United States happened in 1947, and everyone was talking about them. Fred Morrison even gave people "space licenses" with each Flyin' Saucer they bought.

  • In 1955, Fred Morrison changed the design, and started selling discs as "Pluto Platters". This name stayed on the discs until 1964.

  • In 1964, Ed Hendrick at Wham-O started developing Frisbee sports. He changed the Frisbee design to make a "Professional Model" for tournaments.

  • The team sport Ultimate Frisbee started around 1965, and first became popular at high schools. Frisbee golf was created by Ed Hendrick around 1976. Many other disc sports have been created, which has increased the popularity of Frisbees.

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