That means that I was a mere nine year old when this unique toy came to be.
I do have such vivid memories of my days at University of Florida where at any open field, at any time of the day...students could be seen throwing Frisbees. It was a nice respite from the volatile Viet Nam "situation" that was occurring in the 60's. It seemed as if this alternative type of sport caught on quickly with the hippie generation as an anti-jock kind of thing.
Today the Frisbee continues in popularity especially with the establishment of "Ultimate Frisbee Teams". My son, Jeffrey actually enjoys playing on one in D.C. The World Games even awards medals in Frisbee!
It is amazing when one realizes that this all started with a popcorn-tin lid. Back in 1937, Fred Morrison and Ly Nay were at a Thanksgiving family picnic and decided to play catch by flinging a popcorn-tin lid back and forth.
"Twenty years later, Wham-O bought the rights to Morrison's 'Pluto Platter,' (named after the world's obsession with UFO's at that time)... saw Yale University students tossing Frisbe Baking Co. pie tins.... and renamed it the Frisbee."
Statistics estimate that more than a hundred million have been sold since that day in 1957! What a phenomenonal success story for such a simplistic idea that still enthralls even in this day and age of computerized games...
So, Happy 50th Birthday, Frisbee...and, thanks for proving that the simple pleasures still do exist. : )
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