Sociogenesis of Ultimate (Frisbee)

In 1938 at a beach in Santa Montica, CA, Fred Morrison and his wife were offered 25 cents for a pie tin that they were throwing to each other. The pie this tin previously housed cost the couple 5 cents, and, seeing ought but dollar signs, they decided to resell the tins for a profit of 20 cents and a pie (not bad). Eventually Morrison formed a company and registered a trademark by which to call these flying discs: Frisbee. Flying discs have since become a household toy and everybody knows what a Frisbee is.

It wasn't until 1968, however, that the game called Ultimate was created in Maplewood, NJ. Two students of Columbia High School, Joel Silver and Jared Kass, decided to make a game centered around the flight of the Frisbee so they devised some rules similar to football. A point was scored when a player possesses the disc in the opposition's end zone and there was a kickoff to start each possession. Nobody could run with the disc and they were allowed only to pivot on one foot. A team lost possession if they let the disc touch the ground or if a pass was intercepted by the other team.

The game was originally only played by students of Columbia High School. Eventually, a nearby high school started playing, and the first interscholastic game occurred in 1970. By '72, the high schoolers had taken their game to their respective colleges resulting in intercollegiate competitions between Rutgers and Princeton. The game spread across the US and internationally from the mid-70's onward.

The rules originally created by Silver and Kass have remained largely intact. They are general rules: don't run with the disc, possess the disc in the end zone for a point, don't drop the disc. Various organizations have specified certain dimensions such as disc size and weight, field length and width, end zone length, number of players and substitutions.

There was never any uniform for Ultimate. Originally a back yard game, the first game was likely played in the manner of Shirts v.s. Skins. Today, teams generally wear track shorts and matching shirts, but a team can show up in any type of clothing, provided it doesn't confer any unfair advantages.

An event of note for Ultimate is when Wham-O, owner of the Frisbee trademark, released the 80 Mold in 1977. Previously, the available frisbees were flimsy and light, but this new frisbee weighed 165 grams and was sturdier. It was embraced by the Ultimate community and set today's standard for discs.

sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Ultimate_field.svg
http://www.zume-games.com/sites/www.zume-games.com/files/dizk-tough-soft-touch-great-grip-flying-disc-3.jpg
http://ultimatefrisbeeinfo.com/ultimate_frisbee_history
http://www.usaultimate.org/archives/default.aspx