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In 1970, two years before the first intercollegiate Ultimate Frisbee match would enter the record books, Lafayette established the first college Ultimate Frisbee club.
Ultimate was introduced to residents of South College in fall 1970 by Joel Silver ’74, who now heads Hollywood’s Silver Pictures. He is credited with inventing Ultimate at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., with two schoolmates in 1968 (four years after the first Frisbee was introduced by Wham-O) and later collaborating on the Official Rules of Ultimate Frisbee.
Pick-up games with varying numbers of players took place regularly on the quad. John Hasnas ’74, associate professor of law at George Mason University and a member of the first Ultimate club, recalls, “People passing by would wonder what we were doing. ‘Are you playing Frisbee Football?’ they would ask. ‘No,’ we’d say, ‘we’re playing Ultimate.’ But, nobody knew what that meant.”
The sport has spread enthusiastically since then, and as Eric Smoczynski ’04, club secretary for the 2002-03 season, says, “Today, everyone definitely knows what Ultimate is.”
Today’s team practices on the quad as well, usually informally for about two hours every day, but holds tournaments at Metzgar Fields and travels to other campuses to compete. The 1970 team was composed only of men and included many soccer players who considered Ultimate a training drill. The current team is coed, and none of its members play varsity sports. In recent years, the club established the annual tradition of choosing a team name; this year’s group is called Rock Steady. As the sport’s popularity grew, a new brand of Ultimate-lingo and equipment emerged. “In the beginning, there was no terminology,” says Hasnas. “Frisbees were called Frisbees and not disks.”
Despite the changes in the sport, many of the original rules have remained intact. Also intact are the reasons for which Ultimate attracts its players. Hasnas and Smoczynski agree that this physically demanding sport provides good exercise, fun, and a social outlet for its players.
Ultimate Frisbee Club members from the 1983 Melange.