Fred Morrison created a relaxed lifestyle with his incredible plastic flying disc.
His impact on global recreation truly took off, following his narrow escape from death while navigating a steel missile through European skies during World War II.
Morrison, a Southern California beach enthusiast, initially named his spinning discs Flyin’ Cake Pans and later changed it to Whirlo-Way. Today, it’s recognized worldwide as the Frisbee.
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“It became an overnight sensation,” Tristan Lin, brand director for Wham-O, shared with Fox News Digital.
“In no time, every college student across America was enjoying Frisbee.”
Walter Frederick Morrison, the inventor of the Frisbee, is seen promoting his Pluto Platters, which preceded the Frisbee. (Connecticut State Library/Public Domain)
Wham-O, located in California, was instrumental in popularizing the hula-hoop, super ball, and Morrison’s Frisbee, among other imaginative creations.
“The brilliance of the Frisbee lies in its simplicity,” Lin explained.
“It became an overnight sensation.”
Morrison was inspired by the casual act of tossing baking pans, a common leisure activity prior to the rise of the Frisbee.
“The Frisbee began merely as a container for pies,” noted the University of Southern California’s online engineering magazine, Illumin Magazine, which examined the physics behind the flying disc.
Border collie Emma catches a Frisbee in the “Freestyle Flying Disc” event during the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge at Huntington Beach, California, on June 8, 2018. (MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)
“It evolved into a beloved and globally recognized toy.”
The Frisbee became more than just a simple piece of plastic; it emerged as a symbol of a confident, optimistic, and triumphant America.
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“To me, the Frisbee embodies America,” stated Lin from Wham-O. “It shouts patriotism. It serves as an emblem of American culture, creativity, and that relaxed yet competitive spirit.”
There was something that drove the war heroes of America to spread joy in the nation post-war.
The Frisbee transcends its role as a mere toy. It symbolizes a triumphant, optimistic America. (iStock)
Morrison’s narrative is closely paralleled by another veteran pilot: Fredric Arnold, who invented the folding beach chair.
Airborne kick the can
Walter Frederick Morrison was born on January 23, 1920, in rural Richfield, Utah.
When he was just 11, his father, Dr. Walter F. Morrison, relocated his optometry practice and family to Los Angeles.
It was during the Great Depression, and even the simplest items offered opportunities for play. The origins of the Frisbee can be traced back to a version of kick the can played in the air.
Four young friends leap for a Frisbee in Lake Erie on July 28, 2015, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Angelo Merendino/Corbis via Getty Images)
“The story of the Frisbee begins in collegiate environments,” as per the National Museum of Play, which inducted the flying disc into the Toy Hall of Fame in 1988.
“In the late 19th century, students at Yale and other New England universities played catch with pie plates … manufactured by the Frisbie Baking Co. of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They would shout ‘Frisbie!’ to alert pedestrians of the spinning discs.”
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The tradition took flight on a sun-drenched SoCal beach in 1937.
As the story goes, teenage Morrison was tossing a 5-cent cake pan back and forth with his girlfriend Lucille when a nearby sunbather approached, offering Morrison 25 cents for the pan.
Model, author, and actress Rachel McCord demonstrates a Frisbee on July 30, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. (TSM/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The couple quickly grasped the potential for profit.
“Before long, ‘Flyin’ Cake Pans’ were being sold at parks and beaches throughout L.A.,” wrote Phil Kennedy in an online overview of Morrison’s life.
Kennedy co-wrote the 2006 book “Flat Flip Flies Straight!: True Origins of the Frisbee,” with the inventor himself.
The couple quickly grasped the potential for profit.
Sales of these discs “funded dates and eventually a wedding ring. Fred and Lucille got married.”
But then they found themselves separated by the war. Morrison enlisted in the Army Air Force, flying P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers during WWII.
The P-47 was a massive warplane,” notes the National World War II Museum, “weighing 5 tons and loaded with 3 tons of fuel, ammunition, and bombs.”
The Republic P-47B Thunderbolt was among the fastest fighters in use during World War II. (Getty Images)
He completed 58 nerve-racking missions until his streak of good fortune came to an end.
He was shot down in Italy and taken hostage by the Germans.
“He endured over a month as a POW, but he survived,” reported The Saturday Evening Post in a 2021 article about the Frisbee.
Once the war ended and he returned home, Morrison returned his focus to the flying disc he had created.
Fortune from the cosmos
The principles behind throwing a Frisbee have been known to humanity for years.
“Humans have tossed flat, round objects since ancient times—first, out of curiosity to observe the effortless defiance of gravity, and simply for fun,” remarked Morrison co-author Kennedy.
The sport of discus throwing, as seen in Ancient Greece. Colored engraving by Heinrich Leutemann (1824-1905). (Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images)
He added, “Eventually, it became apparent that flying objects could be used for combat, leading to displays of skill and organized sports events, such as discus throwing in the early Greek Olympics.”
Morrison infused an entrepreneurial post-World War II American approach to the age-old concept of a spiraling missile. He transformed leisure pursuits into profitable ventures.
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Since his epiphany in 1937, Morrison absorbed valuable insights into the art of flight during his time in military service.
“His flying experiences enhanced his understanding of aerodynamics … and once he was out of the military, he felt a renewed inspiration to continue from where he had left off,” wrote Kennedy.
His first innovation in 1946 was the pressed metal Whirlo-Way, quickly succeeded by a lightweight disc thanks to new advances in plastic manufacturing.
Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer, who first investigated and gathered debris from the Roswell UFO site. Corsicana Daily Sun on July 9, 1947. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Unexpected fortune also descended from the skies—or did it?
“It’s hard to believe today, but in 1946, ‘flying saucers’ didn’t even exist by that name,” reported the Flying Disc Museum, which archives Frisbee history in Phoenix, Arizona.
“It serves as an emblem of American culture, creativity, and a relaxed yet competitive spirit.”
Pilot Ken Arnold claimed to see a flying object in Washington state in June 1947. That same summer, Roswell, New Mexico, became the epicenter of UFO conspiracies.
Media outlets coined the term “flying saucers” for these aerial mysteries.
America’s budding mass media became captivated by the flying disc phenomenon, depicted in popular culture as resembling Morrison’s Whirlo-Way.
Morrison renamed an enhanced version the Flyin-Saucer, and by 1955 released the Pluto Platter with its innovative design.
UFOs portrayed as flying saucers became a pop culture sensation after WWII. (iStock)
After experiencing various ups and downs in business, the wartime hero celebrated his 37th birthday on January 23, 1957, by signing a contract with Wham-O, a toy-marketing powerhouse.
Wham-O rechristened it the Frisbee, allegedly inspired by the cake pans used by Frisbie Baking Co. that students at Yale tossed around their Connecticut campus.
Morrison later admitted he “loathed” the name. But then the royalties started flowing in.
By the mid-1960s, Wham-O had reportedly sold 100 million Frisbees.
Parallels with another WWII pilot-inventor
Walter Frederick “Fred” Morrison passed away on February 9, 2010, at his home in Monroe, Utah, after a battle with cancer and age. He was 90 years old.
His death made news globally.
Frisbee inventor Fred Morrison is shown during a publicity shoot for the Wham-O Frisbee. (Tim Walsh/Wham-O)
“This simple toy has reached every continent, and nearly every household likely has at least one Frisbee,” Morrison’s attorney, Kay McIff, noted in an obituary that circulated globally.
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“How could anyone grow up without learning to throw a Frisbee?”
The Pluto Platter was an early incarnation of the Frisbee, named in homage to the nation’s fascination with UFOs post-World War II. (Tim Walsh/Wham-O)
Morrison’s wartime and postwar experiences resonate eerily with those of another creator of the modern American lifestyle: Frederic Arnold, the inventor of the folding beach chair.
Both individuals shared the name Fred. Both piloted versatile fighter planes, with Arnold flying a P-38. Each survived over 50 nerve-racking combat missions, only to be shot down and subsequently imprisoned in German POW camps.
For more unique storytelling in the “Meet the American Who…” series from Fox News Digital,click here.
Fred Morrison was born on January 23, 1920, whereas Folding Chair Fred arrived two years later on January 23, 1922.
Fred Morrison, featured in the center photo, first envisioned a flying disc for recreational use during the Great Depression, which came to fruition following his service in World War II. (TSM/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Tim Walsh/Wham-O; MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)
Both men conceived their creations at the beach, alongside the women they later wed.
“There’s a clear connection between these two individuals,” Marc Arnold acknowledged about his father and Morrison, after being informed of the striking similarities between them.
Team Xi’an Physical Education University V7 (in blue jersey) competes against Team Xi’an Terra-Cotta Warriors-RJM in the inaugural National Ultimate Frisbee League of China on August 6, 2022. (Zhang Yichen/China News Service via Getty Images)
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“Given the horrors from which they came, they both sought to craft a new reality. After all the devastation they witnessed, they undoubtedly pondered the question: What is the value of life if it does not come with opportunities for joy?”
