***This is a tribute profile!!!*** Read the blog...
I personaly am a 34 year old boy; Born and raised in California; Adopted by Oregon for ten years; And currently living back in Cali. I've played disc golf in four states and somewhere around twenty courses, mostly in Cali and Oregon.
Hope you like/d my little story...
~M
Wham-O
I took one of my inventions, a hydrofoil water ski to Wham-O, who was not just a toy company but sold sling shots, blow guns, cross bows and throwing knives. Sporting Goods, Right?Wham-O had a large warehouse full of Hula Hoop tubing they were stuck with and they were spending thousands of dollars per month trying to develop a product to use the tubing. It was like a millstone around their neck. I offered to quit my job and take over R & D (marketing) for them for a little more money than the water heater company paid. They said they couldn't afford that much, and I offered to work for free for three months, and if they wanted me after that time they would have to pay me what I required retroactively to the start (creative marketing?) They accepted and my first marketing/R & D project was to haul a warehouse full of useless tubing to a meltdown company.
The Frisbee
Now they were ready to listen to my ideas. In the first three months I developed and filed a mechanical patent (the first by the way) on my version of what a flying saucer ought to look like. During the same period, I formulated the marketing plan and made the first test mold out of an old disc mold that Wham-O had acquired. The greatness of my invention was simplicity, and I quickly learned that there was a hard core of people in their 20's perhaps 100 people in the world, A CULT that were playing with a child's toy, a flying saucer, and loving it. All I did was offer them a "Pro" model, white with a black flame painted ring, a gold foil label that said 108 grams, as if anyone cared, and the Olympic rings upside down. It looked like an early night football, with class, and the saucer cult loved it. Hence my claim to have invented the modern Frisbee.
IFA - International Frisbee Association
I also formed the International Frisbee Association during that time period and started shooting the first real television commercial called "What's a Frisbee."In my spare time, I took a blob of synthetic rubber developed by the tire industry to dissipate the heat generated by the flexing of a tire. This blob had an amazing coefficient of friction and restitution but was not practical for a tire in that it lost all of its friction when the surface was wet. It was difficult to mold, sometimes shattered upon impact, but magically bounced forever. In that first three months, the Modern Frisbee and the Super Ball were both born and became two of the top ten fads in the world. I got the job plus $10 for valuable consideration and licensed my patent on the Modern Frisbee to Wham-O as required by my contract.
The best $10 ever earned
Since that time the Frisbee, made under the teachings of my patent with the "Lines of Headrick", has sold over 200,000,000 a stack to New York and back to California 6.3 times (with end to end). Super Bowl was named after Super Ball and the rest is history, my history. The IFA had over 112,000 members who all shared one thing: the love, the companionship, and the camaraderie of a piece of plastic. I am wealthy beyond my dreams with a family of millions. It was the best $10 I ever earned. I was CEO and sales exceeded 18 million with earnings in the millions. It was with a heavy heart and empty wallet that I left Wham-O.
The first Masters Competition
I rented the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to shoot a television commercial (The first Masters competition), hung the bunting all over the field, bought referee shirts for the football coaches of La Canada High, invited all my Frisbee friends from Hollywood through Goldy Norton and Irv Landers and never shot a picture of the stands, which were of course empty! This event eventually became the Worlds Frisbee Championships held at the Rose Bowl for many years with a max. audience of 50,000 people (estimated by Pasadena Police Department) a marketing mans dream, but beneath it all, a desire to find a game that would become the future of Frisbee when the glamour wore out. I failed. Ultimate, 30 or 40 people playing catch with one Frisbee! Fun, but a ridiculous market. Guts, ten crazy people trying to kill each other again with one disc. Distance, Freestyle, MTA, TRC, nothing worked.
A Revelation, “Frisbee Golfâ€
Then an amazing revelation, all my buddies, all my staff at Wham-O, and most of my cult members and I were playing the game I was looking for. Frisbee Golf was right under my nose! Great marketing man right? A game where people would throw an expensive Frisbee into the ground every throw on purpose? Wow! What a market potential!It seems so easy, but what could possibly be better than walking through a beautiful park and throwing at trees, drinking fountains, open car windows and an occasional coed? Back to the drawing boards and 56 models later a contraption was born. Shazam! Chain! Like Moses and his cracked rules, chains without black leather and a whip. Chain, indestructible, flexible, a pleasant sound. I wish I had invented it, but chain was my answer. Hence the MACH I, II, III and twenty years of blood, sweat and tears.
