Reading CNN tonight, I noticed that "Steady" Ed Headrick had just passed away at age 78. I surfed to E2 to refresh my memory about Ed, but - horrors! - I find a
nodeshell. Well, then, here's my poor attempt at memorializing the man; those who know more (most everybody, I'd 'spect) jump in.
Ed Headrick was an inventor. In 1964, while working for the toy firm Wham-O, he modified the unsatisfactorily wobbly 'Pluto Platter' flying toy, by adding aerodynamic ridges to the top surface - and the modern Frisbee was born.
Headrick patented his work - and millions have known and loved the magical flight of the Frisbee since he did so. He invented the game of Disc Golf, or Frisbee Golf, and started the PDGA - the Professional Disc Golfing Association.
In an interview given in 2001, Ed Headrick offered his views on religion and death:
"We used to say that Frisbee is really a religion -- 'Frisbyterians,' we'd call ourselves," he said. "When we die, we don't go to purgatory. We just land up on the roof and lay there."