17. The developer of the Frisbee had a strange request in his will
Ed Headrick was an army veteran employed by the Wham-O toy company when he was given the task of developing a new toy following the demise of the Hula-Hoop craze of the 1950s and early 1960s. He did not invent the flying saucer toy which became famous as the Frisbee, it had previously been developed by Walter Morrison. It was officially marketed as the Pluto Platter, but was later renamed the Frisbee, a name which came from a New England pie manufacturer, the Frisbee Pie Company. Headrick changed both the design of the flying disc and the manner in which it was marketed, and it became a sport as well as a toy, with sales of the Frisbee exploding in the 1960s.
Headrick, known to fellow Frisbee golf aficianados as “Steady Ed”, passed away in 2002 following a brief illness, and at his request, he was cremated. Also in accordance with his wishes a small number of Frisbees were manufactured using a special compound which incorporated his ashes, for distribution within his family and among close friends. A few discs containing Headrick’s ashes were offered for sale, with the proceeds going to the Steady Ed Memorial Disc Gold Museum, located in Georgia at the site of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) International Disc Golf Center.
