A city and club team up to shed light on a growing sport
By Robert Thornberg
Have you ever seen a football hang in the air and change direction? No? It happens all the time in Ultimate Frisbee.
In the mid-1980s, a group of people in the Corvallis, Ore., area formed two Ultimate Frisbee teams to play in tournaments around the state. In 1988, the two teams—the men’s “Slugs” and the women’s “Wild Hairs”—decided to form a summer league, but they needed fields and help getting the venture off the ground. They contacted the Corvallis Parks & Recreation Department and the alliance was formed. That summer, parks and recreation listed the first Ultimate Frisbee co-ed league in the city’s Activity Guide. Teams were charged $10 each; games were played on a soccer field on weekday evenings. There were seven teams that first year. By 2001, there were 29 teams in three competitive divisions, and it has stayed steady ever since.
A Good Start
As the popularity of Ultimate Frisbee grew, it became evident that the league would need some fields dedicated to the sport. Parks and recreation proved to be a valuable resource again. Several city parks were used to expand and promote the program. Lower Pioneer Park proved an ideal spot, and Pioneer Ultimate Frisbee Field (PUFF) was born. In the mid-1990s, with fundraising from the Corvallis Ultimate Club, irrigation was added and the field was upgraded. The city agreed to maintain it to support the program. This was a good solution, but the field was still too small for a full field and too small to run tournaments.