|
|
Walter Frederick "Fred" Morrison, the inventor of the Frisbee, passed away in his Monroe, Utah home at age 90 on February 9th, 2010. According to Fred's son, Walt, his father had long suffered from cancer and that "old age had caught up" with him. He adds, "He was a nice guy. He helped a lot of people. He was and entrepreneur. He was always looking for something to do". Now Utah state rep and lawyer Kay McIff, who represented Fred in a royalties case, said: "That simple toy has permeated every continent in every country. |
|
| As many homes have Frisbees as any other device ever invented. How would you get through your youth without learning to throw a Frisbee?". Fred first invisioned the Frisbee in the 1940's after tossing a metal lid back and forth with his then girlfriend Lu, whom he later made his wife. Known to all as Fred, he then sold his product to the Wham-O toy company, and it was destined to become one of the most popular toys in the world, selling more than 200 million units around the world and becoming the forerunner of the modern disc golf disc. |
"How would you get through your youth without throwing a Frisbee" |
Kay McIff, lawyer for Walter Frederick Morrison |
|
|
| Born in Richfield Utah, Fred was an inventor and entrepreneur, but is best know to most as the inventor of the modern Frisbee. Invention was always in Fred's blood. His father developed an improved headlight for cars. Fred claimed the original idea for the Frisbee came to him in 1937 at age 17, after being invited by his girlfriends uncle to throw a popcorn lid back and forth at a Thanksgiving Day picnic with his then girlfriend Lu, whom he later married. The lid quickly became dented, and Fred realized that pie pans flew better and were easier to find. Fred and Lu then put together a small business on the beaches of Santa Monica, California, selling their "Flying Cake Pan" for 25 cents apiece. |
|
Fred started a career as a buildings inspector in Los Angeles, but with the onset of World War II he became a fighter pilot flying P-47 Thunderbolts in Italy with the USAAF, where he was shot down and spent forty-eight days as a prisoner of war at the infamous Stalag-13. After returning home in 1946 Fred worked as a carpenter and in his spare time used some of the knowledge of aeronautics and flight characteristics he learned as a pilot to help refine the first designs of his flying disc, which he called the "Whirlo-Way, and it was to become the worlds first official flying disc. The disc's novel shape allowed it to hover or travel surprising distances, being kept aloft by its rotation. |
|
| In 1948 Warren Fransciono, another former pilot, decided to invest in Fred's idea and paid to mold the design in plastic. They named it the Flyin'-Saucer in hopes of capitalizing on the nations fascination with UFO's following the Roswell NM hysteria that swept the nation at that time.. In 1954 Fred decided |
| to purchase several of the Saucers from the original molder to sell at fairs and carnivals in the area, and quickly realized he could produce his own discs cheaper than purchasing them. In 1955 he and Lu designed the Pluto Platter, which would become known as the model of all modern discs used today. In 1957 the couple sold the rights for the Pluto Platter to the Wham-O toy company of California, and in 1958 the company changed the name to Frisbee to avoid trademark infringements, and as a play on the name Frisbee Pie Company. "I thought it was a terrible name" Morrison would later be quoted as saying! Later that same year Fred received a patent on his design, and is said to have received more than $1 million in royalties for his invention. In 1964 Wham-O's Ed Headrick added the patented flight ridges to the top of the disc, radically improving the Frisbee's ability and speed. This one change |
|
|
| to the disc created the needed improvement that has led to the sport of disc golf we all love to play. |
|
| Fred said in 2007, fifty years after the creation of his invention: "The world has changed a lot in the past 50 years, but the original purpose of Frisbee has remained constant. Just seeing the smile on a child's face as he or she catches a soaring disc on a summer afternoon in the park, or a grown-up diving headfirst to grab a falling disc, that is what the spirit of the frisbee is all about". |
|
|
Fred is survived by his three children, his wife Lu Nay, who came up with the slogan "Flip flat, fly straight", having passed away in 1987. He will be missed by many.
A disc golf course at Creekside Park in the Salt Lake City suburb of Holliday is named in honor of Fred
These words, from the Wham-O web site, say so well: "As Frisbee discs keep flying through the air bringing smiles to faces, Fred's spirit lives on. Smooth flights Fred!" |
| |
|
| |
| |
