The "I'm Older Than A Flying Cake Pan" Story

It was an ordinary day.  September 10, 1946 and a guy by the name of Walter Frederick Morrison and his girlfriend Lucille started a game of catch with a metal lid from a popcorn container.  They had a great time, but found that the popcorn tin lids were easy to dent, and after they dented, were no longer good for flying.  So, they started to use cake pans to play; they were easier to find, and cheap to buy.  One time they traveled to a beach in Santa Monica and people watched them as they played with their cake pan.  Someone offered them money for their cake pan so they could play.  Morrison knew instantly that he had a great opportunity open for him.  He saw a commercial market for a flying disc toy.  His pan was dubbed the Flying Cake Pan and they sold them on L.A. beaches for a quarter each.  

World War II arrived and Morrison was called into the Army were he served as an Army Air Force fighter pilot.  His P-47 Thunderbolt was shot down over Italy and he spent the next month as a POW.  After the war ended he returned home with thoughts of his homemade flyer.  He used his knowledge of aerodynamics he picked up as a pilot and drew a sketch of a new Flying Cake Pan which he called the Whirls-Way.  His design was finalized September 10, 1946; 75 years ago.  Morrison approached investor Warren Franscioni and began selling his Whirlo-Way lightweight plastic flying disc.  The two split in 1950 even though Morrison was making sales headway by demonstrating and selling his Whirlo-Way at county fairs.  Five years later the disc had been redesigned into a new version and renamed the Pluto Platter.  It was at this time that Morrison applied for and obtained an official U.S. patent for his work.  But, in 1957 he sold the rights to his Pluto Platter to the California toy company Wham-O.  

But, during the following year, Wham-O's co-founders, Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr discovered that the concept of the Pluto Platter had already been popular at Yale for years.  Turns out that the students had been throwing pie tins for a while, much like the Morrison's had in the 1930s.  The company that made the pies for Yale had their logo stamped in the tins: Frisbee Pie Company.  The collegians had dubbed their flying discs "Frisbies."  So Wham-O change the game of the Pluto Platter to the "Frisbee."  In 1964 a fellow by the name of Ed Headrick joined Wham-O as General Manager and changed the Frisbee design so it was thinner around the rim, giving the disc the weight and feel that's in has today.  He also changed the marketing and before long sales began to take off in a big way.  Because of this, Headrick is considered the father of the modern Frisbee and the driving force behind popularizing an offshoot that started with tin lids in Canada.  

In 1975 he left Wham-O and trademarked Disc Golf.  He then founded Disc Golf and designed the smaller discs with the original basket design.  Headrick died in 2002 and per his wishes had his ashes molded into discs for his family and close friends while a few were sold to benefit non-profits.  Have you ever played Frisbee golf?  We have a Frisbee golf course near our house, but I never had the interest to give it a try.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.