Columbia University Ultimate Frisbee Team

Ultimate is a team sport, etc etc.

Founding

The Columbia University Ultimate Frisbee Team was founded by David "Buddha" Meyers in the fall of 1974 [confirm], during his sophmore year at Columbia. Buddha was a graduate of Columbia High School in Orange [confirm], New Jersey, where the game of Ultimate originated in 1968 [confirm]. Many of Buddha's high school classmates had founded or were running other college teams on the Esat Coast, including Bob Evans at Princeton, Dave Leiwant (sp?) at Yale and Jon (JC) Cohn at Cornell. The team's first shirt was a copy of the Columbia High School shirt stating Columbia Ultimate Frisbee in Columbia blue above concentric cirlces (supposed to be a frisbee). In contrast, the Columbia High School shirt had black lettering and said C.H.S. Ultimate frisbee [confirm]. The sport used a Master Frisbee (165s and 175s had not yet been invented). The Columbia University's Ultimate Frisbee team's first year was untarnished by victory.

Buddha spent his junior year at the London School of Economics and Larry Horlick and Dave Birnbaum (sp?) captained the 1975-1976 squad that kept its unvictorious streak alive. Ken Gary, a future legend joined the team during this season.

Buddha returned to Columbia in the fall of 1976 and the team achieved its first victory against Yale in September 1976, in Steve Kane's (and Chris Schmidt's(?)) first game. A coincidence - I think not. Ken Gary, Jerry McManus, Bob Jarrett (?), Larry Horlick also played in this game.

For the spring 1977 season, Budddha got John Anthony (a Columbia graduate student), Dave Bloeme, the then reigning Frisbee World Champion and a graduate of Bronx High School of Science and Mark Dana (sp?) to join the Columbia squad. The team's potential was discovered in its game against ---?? Cornell/Princeton, both?] at Columbia's Baker Field when Buddha taught the team how to play a zone (3-3-1 was more common than 2-3-2 at the time) on the subway ride up to Baker Field & the team narrowly lost to a well-respected __ team. That season's team consisted of several 'athletes" (certainly athletes by Ultimate's then standard of "athletic"), including refugees from Columbia's other sports programs, including Jerry McManus (baseball) and Bob Jarrett (lightweight football), Steve Kane, a self-acknowledged, but nonthelss excellant, goal hanger, running around to get open for Buddha, Bloeme, John Anthony & Ken Gary to throw to. A typical play would have a Bloeme throw-off that pinned the other team in the corner by their goal line (this was before the ___ rule); Columbia would then apply its zone (often a "force side") and upon a turnover Columbia would score, often with Buddha throwing an air-bounce wrist flip (that is not a typo) to someone in the end zone.

The team qualified for the 1976 East Coast Championship at (Amherst __) in April/May 1977 and was seeded ___. In its first single elimination game Columbia lost ___ to Penn State [confirm], the eventual East Coast champion.

Buddha went on to Georgetown Law where in his second year he suffered a brain aneurym and remained in a coma until his death in _____. As an early apostle of Ultimate, Buddha's bio and film (in the book's DVD) of him playing in a high school game for Columbia High School is in Ultimate, the First Four Decades. In the film/DVD Buddha is the player whose body type matches his name & he is wearing one black glove, years before Michael Jackson did.

History

In the fall of 1977, Steve Kane & Jerry McManus were the co-captains, and despite the loss of Buddha & Bloeme, the team improved. Other players joing at this time were Muarice Matiz (a cross-counrty refugee); Luis Pacheco (a varsity soccer player), and freshmen Ernie Cicconi, Paul Tvetenstrand and Bob Kennelly. and otehrs ----. The highlight of the fall season was the crushing defeat of then top nationally-ranked Rutgers at Rutgers. (By coincidence a poster for this game is on page __ of Ultimate the First Four decades). In contrast to the fall of 1977 when Columbia had Buddha and Bloeme, Columbia's humilating defeat of Rutgers, by a bunch of non-New Jersey, no-name players was an announcement that Columbia was a team to be reckoned with (even though one should never end a sentence with preposition).

1978 Florida Trip Spring 1978 Fall 1978. End of season upset of BFC/BAD (their only loss of the year). Columbia teaches a very raw Pat King the intracies of the game. Winter 1978-1979. UPA founded; new regions; NY in Northeast Region; NJ in Mid-Atlantic. Likley showdown between BFC/BAD & Columbia. Spring 1979. Florida trip (fun but not many victories). team never quite clicks (plays about .500). In Northeast semi-final at Amherst [confirm], loss to Cornell on a tipped disc goal with time running out. Two unamed players (Strage & Gigi oversleep - who would have thought such reposnible yaoung men would do that?). Cornell goes on to upset BFC/BAD; thus BFC?BAD's only losses in the 1978-1979 wer their final games of the fall & the spring. Fall 1979. Heiffers formed. Is this when the Schmidt Rule comes in ? Winter 1980. We win Syarcuse toureny 9was this the 1st or 2nd one? 1980 Florida Trip. Last minute car plans change so only 8 players go in Steve Kane's parents' staion wagon - Steve Kane, Chris Schmidt, Bob Kennelly, Mike Stage, Wally Don, Ken Gary, Ernie Cicconi and Jeff Coffin. The team goes undeafeated, despite palying many doubleheaders with only 1 sub. Columbia would have beeaten ___ by a larger margin, but Mike Strage confuses Ken Gary when he reciveing a throw-off. There is no record of Bob & Jeff having anything to do with eclairs and Alberson's at 2:00 am {??}; such records are expugned & redacted in toto. Spring 1980.