FRED MORRISON PASSES AWAY

[Phil Kennedy]

Just got the word that Fred's no longer with us....in person, anyway. Next time you toss a disc....toss it for Fred!

Here's an article which I wrote for Wham-O recently so they could be ready to send it out.

Walter Fredrick (Fred) Morrison, best known as the inventor of THE Frisbee, passed away February 9, 2010 at the age of 90 at his home in Monroe, UT after a long period of declining health.

Fred Morrison had just “the right stuff” to invent the Frisbee!

Tall, with a wiry athletic build; inquisitive, with a razor-sharp mind honed by western wit; generous to a fault with the biggest, kindest, warmest, people-loving heart around. Not known for being humble, Fred was nevertheless self-effacing: he readily admitted to not being overly handsome. (He was also a distant cousin of Marion Morrison…better known as John Wayne.)

The idea for flying discs didn’t start out as the Frisbee. Like most boys and girls since the dawn of time, Fred experimented with flat, round objects he found laying about his small town neighborhood in Richfield, Utah. Flipping them to see how well they would fly, Fred developed a lifelong fascination with flight.

His father, an optometrist, moved the family to Los Angeles in time for Fred to attend John Marshall High School, where he fell head over heels in love with Lucile Nay. Lu invited Fred to her family’s Thanksgiving gathering in 1937. After dinner, Lu’s uncle produced a popcorn can lid to toss about for fun in the back yard. Fred and Lu continued to enjoy sailing the metal top for days, until it became banged up beyond repair.

They found that a cake pan “borrowed” from Fred’s mother’s kitchen flew even better. They practiced at the beach until they became so skilled that one day an admirer offered to buy the cake pan for twenty-five cents. A lightbulb went off in Fred’s mind. Cake pans then sold for five cents. Trading nickels for quarters had definite possibilities! A new business was born: “Flyin’ Cake Pans” were soon available whenever the two showed up at beaches and parks throughout the L.A. area. Sufficient profits ensued to fund dates, and finally, a wedding ring.

Fred began collaborating with his father on developing a better-flying cake pan to sell, but Pearl Harbor interrupted their plans. Because of his love of flight, Fred enlisted in the Army Air Corp, becoming a WWII P-47 fighter-bomber pilot. On a mission over Italy, he was shot down, and held as a P.O.W. in a German stalag for 48 days.

After the War, Fred became a carpenter to support his growing family. But, in his spare time, his thoughts oft returned to developing that better-flying cake pan. In 1946 he drew up plans for an aerodynamic flying disc and dubbed it the Whirlo-Way (after the legendary racehorse).

A year later, he and his boss, Warren Franscioni, decided that producing the Whirlo-Way in plastic might have commercial success. In 1948 their little business, called PIPCO, launched the world’s first plastic flying disc, renamed the Flyin-Saucer to take advantage of the new U.F.O. craze. However, despite intense efforts, Flyin-Saucer sales were tepid…attracting no major toy distributors. In early 1950 Fred and Warren parted company.

In 1954 Fred bought more Flyin-Saucers (by then made of the new, flexible polyethylene plastic) from the original molding company to hawk himself at local fairs. As a long-time wheeler-dealer entrepreneur everything was BIG-TIME with Fred: big ideas and big gambles…always with the hope of a big payoff. Thus, when he soon discovered that his margin of profit would be greatly increased by developing a mold of his own, he immediately sat down at the kitchen table and designed the legendary Pluto Platter—now regarded as far superior to the original Flyin-Saucer—and the archetype for all modern flying discs.

Fred was a born goofy show-off…which greatly helped attract large crowds at all of the major fairs he attended in 1955 and 1956. Sales of Pluto Platters were so brisk they attracted the attention of Wham-O Mfg., a young Southern California company that had been aggressively seeking unconventional ideas to develop new lines of interesting products…like the Hula Hoop. On January 23, 1957, his thirty-seventh birthday, Fred and Lu signed over production and marketing rights to their Pluto Platter in exchange for royalties on future sales.

By late spring, Rich Knerr, president of Wham-O, had heard that some college students in New England were referring to the Pluto Platters by another name…a name they had co-opted from the Frisbie Pie Co., a local bakery whose empty tins were tossed after classes. “What the heck, if that’ll boost Pluto Platter sales back East, we’ll call ‘em that, too.” Not knowing how to spell the odd name, he settled on “Frisbee” to trademark. The marriage of Fred’s plastic flying disc and the catchy name was complete: the Frisbee was born.

Inspired by the increasing royalties pouring in, Fred exercised his inventive spirit: he thunk up Crazy Eight Bowling Balls and The Popsicle Machine, inventions which Wham-O bought into, and an early design for in-line skates, which Wham-O did not(!) In 1961 he gave up the carpentry trade to take a position as a Los Angeles building inspector. Retiring in 1967, he owned and operated a hardware store, and indulged himself racing airplanes.

In 1983 Fred returned to Richfield, Utah and ran a variety of business ventures ranging from operating the local airport, owning a deluxe motel, and establishing a successful racehorse breeding stable on his eighty-acre ranch.

In late 2001 Fred discovered the Internet…and how much grossly false information was being spread about the origins of the Frisbee…and him! He became motivated to correct the record! In 2002 Fred connected with Phil Kennedy, an original Pluto Platter player, disc collector and Frisbee historian, and began a four-year joint project culminating in their definitive 436-page book Flat Flip Flies Straight, True Origins of the Frisbee. (http://www.FlatFlip.com)

Fred often spoke of his total astonishment over how his simple idea for a better-flying cake pan took off. Today, there’s virtually no one on the planet who doesn’t know what to do with a Frisbee!

“It’s amaaaaazing…I’ve been the luckiest guy in the world!”

Smoooooth flights, Fred!

[Jeff Wiechowski]

R.I.P. Fred

[Les Sinnock]

Bye bye Fred. May the wind be at your back.
Thanks Phil for posting this.

[Bill Dunne]

Thanks to Phil Kennedy, Billy had the privilege of talking with Fred about his life and the Frisbee. He was doing research for a school biography project.

Rest in Peace, Fred.

[Davis Johnson]

Frisbee and serendipity: How many times in my long fortunate life of frisbee playing have frisbee things, frisbee people, frisbee events just clicked into place like casual tosses on the wind in a not so random universe?

Today, for example: I was going through my address book as we're FINALLY getting out our annual newsy letter (the type everyone dreads at holiday time), when I came across Fred Morrison's address. I'd obtained it through Phil Kennedy a year or so ago, and had sent Fred two Pipco flying saucers which he had graciously autographed and sent back.

Seeing Fred's address, on a whim I decided to send him our annual missive (poor guy) with a brief note because I felt I had not properly thanked him for his favor-- and put it in the mail this afternoon-- only to hear this evening from a friend of mine that he has embarked-- on a glorious MTA flight of no return!

Well, Fred, nice timing! You're spared our family's annual drama-fest. But all of us who love to throw the flying disc should be grateful that Fred seems to have done his all to spend every moment of his long inventive life enjoying it. His immortal legacy is not only the flying disc but the irreverent, good spirited atmosphere that accompanies it where ever it flies.

Oh, and if you want to experience how true this is, if you haven't already, read Fred and Phil Kennedy's excellent book "Flat Flip..." You won't stop reading and you won't stop laughing.

Happy Flights, Fred!

[Dave Mourad]

Based on Phil's eloquent biographical description, it's apparent that Fred led a very "well-rounded" life

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =123624530

AP Rlease...

Frisbee Inventor Dies At 90
by The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY February 11, 2010, 09:15 pm ET
Walter Fredrick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died. He was 90.

Utah House Rep. Kay McIff, an attorney who represented Morrison in a royalties case, says Morrison died at his home in Monroe, Utah, on Tuesday. McIff is from Richfield, Morrison's original hometown.

"That simple little toy has permeated every continent in every country, as many homes have Frisbees as any other device ever invented," McIff said. "How would you get through your youth without learning to throw a Frisbee?"

Morrison's son, Walt, told The Associated Press Thursday that "old age caught up" with his father and that he also had cancer.

"He was a nice guy. He helped a lot of people," Walt Morrison said. "He was an entrepreneur. He was always looking for something to do."

Morrison sold the production and manufacturing rights to his "Pluto Platter" in 1957. The plastic flying disc was later renamed the "Frisbee," with sales surpassing 200 million discs. It is now a staple at beaches and college campuses across the country and spawned sports like Frisbee golf and the team sport Ultimate.

An official disc golf course at Creekside Park in the Salt Lake City suburb of Holladay is named for Morrison.

Morrison co-wrote a book with Frisbee enthusiast and historian Phil Kennedy in 2001. Kennedy released a brief biography about Morrison on Thursday, wishing his late friend "smoooooth flights."

According to Kennedy, Morrison and his future wife, Lu, used to toss a tin cake pan on the beach in California. The idea grew as Morrison considered ways to make the cake pans fly better and after serving as a pilot in World War II, Morrison began manufacturing his flying discs in 1948.

He would hawk the discs at local fairs and eventually attracted Wham-O Manufacturing, the company that bought the rights to Morrison's plastic discs.

Kennedy says Wham-O adopted the name "Frisbee" because that's what college students in New England were calling the Pluto Platters. The name came from the Frisbie Pie Co., a local bakery whose empty tins were tossed like the soon-to-be Frisbee.

Walt Morrison said his father is survived by three children. The family is planning a service for Morrison's friends and relatives Saturday at the Cowboy Corral in Elsinore.

———

Associated Press writers Mike Stark and Joseph Freeman contributed to this report from Salt Lake City.

[Tim_Griskus]

R.I.P. Fred, thank you for inventing this wonderful thing called the Frisbee.

May you fly forever!

[Matt Brier]

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams had a piece on Mr. Morrison at the end of last night's national news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#35357447

[Daniel Marcus]

His immortal legacy is not only the flying disc but the irreverent, good spirited atmosphere that accompanies it where ever it flies.

Grown men aren't supposed to cry... aww screw it...

Davis, you just made my day, really...

[Matt Stroika]

I have been looking for a good read. I am going to buy the book.

Fly straight and true Fred.

[Billy Dunne]

Definitely buy the book. It’s very informative, and in some parts very funny.

As my Dad mentioned I did get the opportunity to interview Fred two years ago for a school project. He was happy to help me, though he scared me when his answer to my first question was that he really just felt like being left alone right now.

It turned out that he was both helpful and funny. He couldn’t figure out why some kid would want to do a project about him, and he said that it was “cute”. “Just do a good job and get a good grade”, he told me.

So I did.

So long Fred! Thanks for the advice! Thanks for the Frisbee!

[ekap]

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obitu ... d_frisbee/

[Phil Kennedy]

Thought I'd share this eulogy for Fred which Time magazine requested I write. It will be in the next print issue, but here it is on line. Once on the page just click on "Fred Morrison."

http://search.time.com/results.html?N=5 ... _year=2009