The Creation of Ultimate Frisbee

A Madison, Wisconsin-based IT professional, Michael Milliard has worked as a technical solutions engineer at Epic Systems Corporation since 2018. He provides technical support to healthcare clients such as Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins with programs such as Epic’s MyChart patient portal. Beyond his professional pursuits, Michael Milliard enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Now a global sport played in more than 30 countries and governed by the World Flying Disc Federation, Ultimate was created by Joel Silver in 1968. Silver and other students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, presented the idea for the sport, based on a similar game known as Frisbee football, to their student council the year prior. Silver played the game during the summer and continued to push student council to create an Ultimate team the following year.

The first-ever Ultimate game was played in the Columbia High School parking lot in 1969. Telephone poles and a pile of coats marked the goal lines. Silver, along with his friends Jon Hines and Buzzy Hellring, created a second set of rules in 1970. In November of that year, Columbia High School defeated Millburn High School in the first recorded interscholastic Ultimate game, and the sport has continued to grow in popularity since.