It's a Flying Disc, a UFO, No - It's a Frisbee!

In 1937, Walter (Fred) Morrison, and his future wife to be Lucile Nay, started tossing a metal popcorn can lid around in the yard on Thanksgiving Day. They found that by sailing it with some wrist action they could control it pretty well. They tried pie pans and even a few cake pans. They worked so well, that they even sold a few.

Then World War II came and everything was forgotten about. Morrison was a fighter pilot in the war. But in the back of his mind, he knew that someday he would apply his knowledge of aerodynamics and build a better disc. It was about this time that the use of plastic started to evolve. The plastic was durable and light weight.

In 1947, Morrison teamed with Warren Franscioni, another Army Air Force Pilot, and made plastic discs. Franscioni provided the money needed to produce an injected mold and found a company to make their Flying Discs. The pair promoted their discs everywhere. They went over exceptionally well at the Beaches. Soon they were selling the Discs all over the country. In 1950, they parted ways.

Franscioni re-enlisted into the service but, kept selling Disc and collecting royalties. He continued this way until the mid 1960's.

In the mean time Morrison found a company that could make more Discs at a cheaper cost. He called them Pluto Platters. At the suggestion of a stranger, Morrison took the Pluto Platter to Wham-O- Manufacturing Inc. In 1957, Morrison and his wife sold all the rights to Wham-O.for quarterly royalty checks. Wham-O gave a new name "Frisbee."

A humble pie pan, according to the Frisbee legend, is the origin of the discs' half century old moniker. The "Frisbie Pie Company" was founded in 1871 by William Russell Frisbie of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Pie pans were sold with the stamp on it of Frisbe's Pie's.

Students at Yale University started sailing the pie tins. They would yell "Frisbie" when it was tossed. When a Wham-O executive heard what the students were yelling, he had the Frisbie named changed to Frisbee in 1958. 1958 was also the year that the Frisbie Pie company closed. At first the Frisbee didn't sell to good. It was out done by another Wham-O product called the Hula Hoop.