Fred Morrison has died, aged 90

[Si Hunt]

The inventor of the frisbee has died.

Fred Morrison, 90, a pilot and carpenter most often credited with inventing that most ubiquitous of backyard toys, the Frisbee, died Feb. 9 at his home in Monroe, Utah. He had lung cancer.

People have been tossing flat, round objects for millennia, and the origins of the Frisbee have been shrouded in conflicting claims and legend. But it was Mr. Morrison who created the flying disc that was eventually marketed to the world, giving rise to a beloved form of egalitarian picnic entertainment and spin-off sports including Ultimate Frisbee, canine Frisbee, freestyle Frisbee and professional disc golf, a sport that's grown large enough that its champions can now make a living on prize money and sponsorships.

Inspiration for Mr. Morrison's flying-saucer toy came in 1937 at a Thanksgiving feast in Southern California. He and his girlfriend, Lucile "Lu" Nay, entertained themselves by tossing a popcorn-tin lid in the backyard. The lid eventually became dented, ruining its aerodynamic potential, and the resourceful couple snatched a cake pan from Mr. Morrison's mother's kitchen.

Cake pans, it turned out, were sturdier and flew better -- so much so that one day, when the two were flinging a pan back and forth on the beach, an impressed passerby offered to buy it. The pan had originally cost a nickel, the stranger offered a quarter -- and that exchange was enough to whet Mr. Morrison's entrepreneurial appetite.

"That got the wheels turning," he told a Norfolk, Va., reporter in 2007. "There was a business."

Rest in peace.

Si.

[SiHart]

It's strange. You don't thik of someone inventing something like the frisbee do you? I just imagined it had been a round for such a long time that no-one knew who'd invented it.

I used to ahve a Viewmaster Frisbee. It was bright red and given away in some promotion at the supermarket where my Dad worked when I was young. It was brilliant and flew really well. It's probably still around somewhere, in a box at my sisters I'd imagine.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

It's strange. You don't thik of someone inventing something like the frisbee do you?

Ever seen the Hudsucker Proxy? 'You know for kids'

Yeah without that invention think of all the fun countless dogs would have missed out on.

[Captain Tancredi]

Apparently his remains are going to be stuck halfway up a tree in next door's back garden.