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Novelty discs, like these “Flying Cuckoo Saucer” mini discs
(3.75 inches in diameter) included as prizes in boxes of Cocoa Puffs
cereal during the 1960s, make for a colorful collecting theme.
The 108-gram Pro model Frisbee was Wham-O had plenty of competition almost from
introduced by Wham-O in 1964, and it the start. This is an early Wiffle Flying Saucer,
represented a big step forward in flying Left: This circa 1970 produced by the Wiffle Ball Company.
disc performance. regular Frisbee
(85 grams in weight)
Anything that’s shaped like a disc is still in its went on and sales started to go through
can be scaled through the air, and original packaging. the roof.
there are tales of people in other parts The Frisbee was a toy, but it now
of the country doing so. One was Fred began morphing into a sport. Most people were casual Frisbee
Morrison, an inventor living in players—throwing and catching the discs for fun—but
California who liked to throw paint competitions that involved distance, accuracy, and other action
can lids and pie tins around as a kid. In had been around since the 1950s. Seeing the success Wham-O
the late 1940s, with his business part- was having, a number of competitors got into the act and started
ner Warren Franscioni, Morrison making their own versions of the Frisbee. It’s unclear whether
started experimenting, first with metal Wham-O actually owned the rights to the name Frisbee at the
and then with plastic, as he tried to time, given the number of people involved in the product’s
come up with a disc that would fly well creation and development, along with the fact that the word
and be durable enough to last more Frisbee had been in common usage in the northeastern U.S. for
than a few throws. The two men a number of years, going back to the
formed a company that they called Pipco, which was Frisbie pie tin days. Still, most
short for “Partners in Plastic.” Their first plastic competitors refrained from calling their
disc, the Flyin-Saucer, was fairly crude by today’s product a Frisbee. This resulted in a lot
standards, but they worked at refining the design. In of creatively named discs entering the
the early 1950s, after Morrison and Franscioni had market. Skyway Products produced the
parted company, Morrison formed a company, Finger Flinger; Superflight produced the
American Trends, which produced an improved Aerobie Superdisc; Voss-Reynolds put
version of the Flyin-Saucer. out the Turbo Disc; C.P.I. introduced
The name Frisbee hadn’t yet entered the frame, the Saucer Tosser; Wiffle Ball made the
as Morrison next came up with the Pluto Platter, Wiffle Flying Saucer; and many more
which was a substantial improvement flying-wise came and went as time went on.
over the Flyin-Saucer. The Pluto Platter eventually During the 1970s, Brumberger came
became the basis for the Frisbee of the future. In close to infringing the name with its
1955 or 1956, Morrison met and partnered with Giant Frizzy, but others took a more
Rich Knerr and A.K. Melin, the founders of the direct route. Around 1959, a New York
Wham-O company in southern California. company, Empire Plastics, came right at
Together they introduced the first flying discs Wham-O with its Zolar Flying Saucer,
bearing the Wham-O name in early 1957. Shortly which featured the name Frisbee on the
after hearing that students at Harvard University packaging. Empire then introduced a
used the word Frisbie to describe the throwing of pie disc that had the word Frisbee on it in
tins around the campus, Knerr adopted the word for large block letters. It also showed two
his company’s flying disc. He actually spelled it boys playing catch, with the shirt of one
incorrectly—Frisbee—but that was the name that of them sporting a large “Y,” which some
went on to become synonymous with the flying believe to be a reference to Yale
disc. (Wham-O also would later score major hits Brumberger skated onto thin trademark University – a school that had been right
with toys such as the Superball and the Hula Hoop.) ice in 1977 with it's Giant Frizzy disc. in the center of the pie tin/disc throwing
From a branding point of view, the names Flyin- Photo by Phil Kennedy/flyingdiscmuseum.com activity for years.
Saucer and Pluto Platter have a lot going for them. As time went on, Wham-O defended
Both describe the shape of the product and both capitalize on the its trademark, sometimes settling with competitors by requiring them
space/science fiction angle that naturally was associated with the to cease and desist, as well as to hand over to Wham-O equipment used
product. But Knerr (and perhaps Morrison and Melin) saw something in the manufacture of their products.
(and heard something) in the word “Frisbee” and took a chance on it.
Developing Sports
Much More Than a Fad Guts Frisbee was one of the earliest games to be developed,

Frisbee sales were slow at first, but as the 1960s dawned, the plastic going back to 1958. Generally, five players on each side attempt to
saucers increasingly were seen flying through neighborhoods all across throw the disc through the opposing side’s goal space without the disc
the U.S. The idea that the Frisbee was some kind of fad faded as time being caught.
24 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles