First Frisbees

By Ron Kaufman ’79 / September / October 2006
November 13th, 2006

Your article on ultimate Frisbee (May/June 2006) was an extraordinary and welcome update on the progress of this magnificent team sport (“The Ultimate Sport,” May/June).

On October 7, 1975, during my freshman year, I drafted and signed the Constitution for the Brown University Intercollegiate Frisbee Team. In those early days, anyone could be an Ultimate team member, as clearly seen in this photograph of our first-line squad. We were a far cry from the incredible athletes who today represent Brown on the Ultimate Frisbee field. But we lived fully in the spirit of the game and were permanently addicted to flight.

James Garvin ’78, ’84 PhD, second from right in the front row of the above photo, is now NASA’s chief scientist for Mars exploration. And Peter Norvig ’78 (second from right, top row) was NASA’s head of computational science and is now Google’s director of research.

Other team members included Alan Winson ’75, Jimmy Rosenberg ’79, Bennett Sweren ’78, George Hogeman ’79, Ken Pettis ’78, Carl Sparrow ’79, Nick Minot ’78, Jacques Lord ’79, Beth Cody ’79, Robin Singer ’77, LJ Fuiks ’78, Jon Bell ’77, Tim Wise ’77, and Paul Horn ’77. (I am seeking the remaining team members names and contact details.)

The team captain, I had a head full of hair back then. That’s me sitting squarely in the middle of the squad. While the hair long ago receded, the spirit of the game lives on.

Ron Kaufman ’79

Singapore
ron@upyourservice.com

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Related Issue
September / October 2006