“Steady” Ed Headrick: The Father of Frisbee and of Disc Golf
About “Steady” Ed Headrick
The Father of Frisbee and of Disc Golf
Some of Ed's most notable achievements in the world of Disc Sports are listed here:
- Inventor of the modern day Frisbee®.
- Inventor of the sport of Disc Golf.
- Inventor of the first disc golf basket, the Disc Pole Hole™.
- Designed and Installed the first Disc Golf course.
- Founded:
The International Frisbee Association™ (IFA),
Disc Golf Association® (DGA),
Professional Disc Golf Association™ (PDGA) and
Recreational Disc Golf Association™ (RDGA). - Established and organized the first World Frisbee Championships and the Junior World Frisbee Championships.
- Established the first Disc Golf tournaments and a $50,000 landmark Frisbee Disc Golf Tournament in 1979.
- Donated his trademark "Disc Golf" to the public domain and his life to the sport he loved.
Read more about “Steady” Ed Headrick’s life.
“Steady” Ed's Frisbee and Disc Golf Patents
“Steady” Ed has many accolades to his credit including being recognized throughout the sport as the “father of disc golf”.
He developed the sport while working for the Wham-O Corporation in the 1970's. At Wham-O, Ed was was credited with the original patent for the Frisbee. Ed obtained several patents for disc catching devices that are now found on over 70% of the courses worldwide. Ed was considered the Johnny Apple seed of the sport, donating as many baskets as he could in order get as many courses in the ground and introduce people to the game. Ed also traversed the country designing and installing recreation disc golf courses.
-
Frisbee Patent 1966 -Adobe Acrobat file (pdf). 328KB
- Mach I Patent 1977 - Adobe Acrobat file (pdf). 171KB
- Mach II Patent 1984 - Adobe Acrobat file (pdf). 403KB
- Mach III Patent 1988 - Adobe Acrobat file (pdf). 398KB
- Mach V Patent 1999 - Adobe Acrobat file (pdf). 235KB
“Steady” Ed Memorial Museum Galleries Online
Galleries of “Steady” Ed Headrick’s Frisbee® and Disc Collections.
“Steady” Ed Memorial Museum Galleries Online
“Steady”Ed Memorial Online Museum galleries.
Images from Ed's personal collection include images from Wham-0®, Rose Bowl, Midnight Flyers, Early Discs, Post 1982 Discs, Trophies, Experimental, Unstamped Discs Gallery.
