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I was one of the first in Utah to join the International Frisbee Association.
I was an avid Frisbee player before the Fly-In, but my life changed on June 9, 1978. Sponsored by KRSP, Coppertone, and Hayes Brothers Buick, the event featured Skinny Johnny Mitchell, professional Frisbee players and a bikini contest. It was a must-see.
Free Frisbees, hot dogs, and drinks!
The event attracted all kinds of riff-raff.
The professional Frisbee players were Jim Emerson and Danny McGinnis. From left to right: Unknown, Dan Bammes, Danny McGinnis, Ms. Bikini Contest Winner, Skinny Johnny Mitchell, Unknown, Jim Emerson.
Channel Four's Craig Wirth took particular interest in the bikini contest.
Danny McGinnis and his Frisbee collection.
Jim Emerson performing a nail delay. Jim would start a competitor to Wham-O called dreamFlights. The discs were named Floaters. I would become a distributor.
I had never seen a nail delay or the accompanying acrobatic moves.
I had a new goal in life: to become a professional Frisbee player.
Dan Rich and I formed a Freestyle Frisbee Team with plans to compete on the national Frisbee tour once we were good enough.
Those abs are never coming back.
Dan Rich and I decided to form a high school Ultimate Frisbee tournament with hopes of making it a sanctioned interscholastic high school sport locally. The sporting goods store Stevens Brown agreed to sponsor the event. Dan and I put up flyers at all the local high schools. Only Skyline High students responded.
Ultimate Frisbee (ultimate) is a non-contact team sport played with a flying disc in which two teams attempt to score points by catching the disc in the opposing team’s end zone. Players advance the disc by passing it to teammates and may not run while holding it.
The Skyline teams were called The Flying Fools A and B. East teams were: Aphrodisiacs, Naked Passion, Beyond the Fringe, The Slipped Discs, and The Missing Links. I called the tournament results into the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Tribune sports reporter did not know how to spell Aphrodisiacs, I am guessing.
I wrote an article for the East High paper and editor Mike Bailey had a laugh and published a photo of me that drew some comments.
The official club card.
A boy and his Frisbee. My basketball coach thought I should concentrate on a sport played with a round ball, but the cross training actually helped my basketball skills.
The girl I was dating supported my alternative sports choice. She was wise as well as beautiful.
I sent the Ultimate article to the International Frisbee Association (IFA). The director Dan "Stork" Roddick responded personally.
Dan Roddick performing his signature move "The Constorktion."
I advanced the move with my Flying Constorktion.
Jim Emerson decided to challenge Wham‑O's flying disc monopoly and started dreamFlights. The discs were named Floaters.
Spring Break March 1979, my friends and I went to Southern California. There were two must-sees for me: Disneyland...
... and Jim Emerson at his new dreamFlights offices.
Dan Rich and I asked to be dreamFlights’ Utah distributors, and Jim said OK. He was a new startup and willing to trust two 18-year-olds he had met once before. Back home, I printed our business cards in East High graphics class.
I already had a checkbook at that young age because of my other endeavors.
Our wholesale price for Floaters was $1.00, so there was a nice profit margin. After high school, I played basketball at Dixie College so Frisbee was put on hold. During this time, my partner Dan found other interests.
Chris Davison had become a proficient Frisbee player. A talented athlete, Chris was also a basketball player and ballet dancer. We formed a Freestyle Frisbee team with an eye on competing on the national level.
The International Frisbee Association organized a nationwide series of flying disc competitions known as the North American Flying Disc Series (NAFDS), which functioned as a regional tour and qualifying circuit. Western cities included Boulder, Colorado; Pomona, California; Pasadena, California; Palo Alto, California; Santa Cruz, California; and Eugene, Oregon.
We were a long way from reaching competition level. We went to the Boulder 1980 tournament to observe.
I did compete in distance, an event I cared little about but wanted some IFA points. 26th place for 5 points!
I was invited to be an instructor in the Smithsonian Frisbee Disc Festival, held annually Labor Day weekend.
It was quite an honor. Most Frisbee greats participated over the years. Dan Roddick (bottom left) and future world champion Scott Zimmerman (center bottom).
My invitation from the festival director, Bill Good.
The event flyer.
Map sent with instructors’ packet.
Bill sent information on where I might crash; Frisbee players were not known for being able to afford hotels in D.C. My brother, who was working as a clerk at the Supreme Court, arranged housing with his boss’s family. I also got to eat with the justices in the cafeteria. My brother brought an extra suit for me, since Frisbee outfits were not acceptable attire.
A female coworker of my brother’s took an interest in me and, during that trip, she took me to a James Taylor concert and to the National Zoo. Giant Pandas!
All instructors received a shirt and a Frisbee; I still have the disc. These were handed out at a buffet the night before the event, held in the Air and Space Museum after closing. It is perhaps best not to distribute Frisbees in such an institution. I ignored the rules, as usual, and did some freestyle under the Spirit of St. Louis. We were supposed to just wander the exhibits, but I broke ranks and pulled a few freestyle moves in the Milestones of Flight hall the night before the Smithsonian Frisbee Festival.
I was the first in Utah to reach the level of Frisbee Disc Master.
Sunny days were spent throwing at Reservoir Park. Many of my friends picked up the sport, and we enjoyed countless carefree afternoons there. Chris and I trained hard for our first competition at the next Boulder IFA Tournament.
I won the Frisbee Championship at the University of Utah. The prize was a trip to Arizona State University. I had to lie to my Russian Studies professor, Slava Lubomudrov, to go; I doubted he would excuse me from an important test to play Frisbee. I told him my grandmother had died. (It was true—I just didn’t mention the year.) A major tooth infection emerged and took its toll, and I performed poorly.
Only a few top Frisbee players made money from tournaments, endorsements, or demonstrations. I did perform with another Frisbee team, Arbogast and Sunderland, at a grade school, but kiddie demos were not my bag. I made my income from selling Floaters. Freestyling often drew a crowd, and when people asked, “How do you do that?” I made sure they knew Floaters were essential. (Note: this was not true.)
Before the internet, this is how you attracted people: a classified ad.
Wham-O “USA Frisbee” Championship Model No. 110 with United States Olympic Committee branding. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, flying disc sports were expanding rapidly through national tours and organized competition circuits. I thought there was a good chance it might become an Olympic sport and saw a long-shot opportunity to become an Olympian. In retrospect, I should have taken up beach volleyball instead.
Boyle and Davison compete at IFA Boulder 1982. Fundraising efforts for the trip included plasma donation. We were nervous and dropped the disc too many times to get out of the opening round, but we were now seasoned veterans and set our sights on next year.
It was not to be. I had given up on college basketball after my year at Dixie College. I am uncomfortable with psychotic authority figures. I was shocked when a scholarship offer came from the College of Eastern Utah. This was two years after Dixie College. I never expected to play college ball again. It was an offer I could not refuse.
Article in the college newspaper The Eagle.
A photo from the article — the only known image of Boyle’s Flying Reverse Rearview.
While at CEU, Tim Lunt and I formed a band that became Primal Scream. Drugs, sex, and rock and roll called my name louder than Frisbee, and I followed their siren call.