#pluto platter

No guts, no Frisbee

As you enter the picturesque village of Eagle Harbor, at the tip of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, you'll see this claim to fame: "Birthplace of Guts Frisbee."

You may ask yourself, as both Sharon and I did: Who's Guts Frisbee? A fearles football player ...? A Bunyanesque lumberjack ...? A heroic miner ...?

But Guts isn't a who; it's a what. Guts Frisbee is a game.

The story goes that, on July 4, 1958, some townsfolk were tossing around what was then called a "Pluto Platter." Friends joined in. Eventually they formed teams of five players each.

The teams lined up 15 feet apart and fired the Pluto Platter at each other. If a member of the opposing team didn't catch it, the throwing team got a point; 21 points won the game.

Accord to the World Flying Disc Federation (I'm not making that up), guts Frisbee is an actual thing now. Like Frisbee golf.

Rest in peace, Walter Frederick Morrison.  An entrepreneur and inventor, Morrison spent most of his life (post-War--he was shot down over Italy during WWII and was held as a POW for a time) working to design and market what he originally called the Whirlo-Way, then the Flyin-Saucer, then the Pluto Platter, before settling on Frisbee, reportedly because that’s what the kids were calling it back East.  He died on this date in 2010 at the age of 90, founder of an enduring social phenomenon.  This stamp enthusiast throws the disc with the neighbors most nights in the warm months--we’ll toss a few for you come spring, Mr. Morrison!

Stamp details: Stamp on top: Issued on: November 2, 1994 From: Wellington, New Zealand MC #1385