Ken Westerfield

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Ken Westerfield Heel Kick 1977

Ken Westerfield (born May 23, 1947 Detroit, Michigan) is a pioneering Frisbee player.

Ken Westerfield and Childhood friend Jim Kenner [1][2] began playing Frisbee in High School, impressing the other students with a variety of controlled throws and trick catches. Graduating in 1965 from Franklin High School, Livonia Michigan, and leaning towards the counterculture, they spent their days on the beach and at music festivals honing their skills. One day, spotting a little Ad in a local alternative newspaper, they took their Frisbees and a VW Bug and went to a concert near Bethel, NY, called Woodstock which later became the music event of the century. While at the concert they would throw the Frisbee over the crowd. Westerfield later stated “it was an interesting crowd to play for”.

Early Years in Canada

1970 Westerfield and Kenner [3] move to Toronto, setting up their disc playing headquarters in Queen's Park (Toronto). Playing Frisbee freestyle [4] and Object Disc Golf [5] became a daily event at the park. In 1971 with a hundred dollars each and hitch hiking, they set out to cross Canada, stopping to do Frisbee street performance at popular annual events, the Klondike Days in Edmonton, Calgary Stampede and Vancouver's historic Gastown area, in front of a railroad car turn restaurant, oddly enough called Frisby's. They decided to try to collect money like street musicians. It was a success, and they embarked on a new career. Returning to Toronto they lived in Rochdale College while performing nightly in the Yonge Street Mall.[6] Night after night, thousands of tourists and Torontonians would enjoy nightly displays of their Frisbee expertise. Wanting to advance their professional legitimacy, they approached Irwin Toy,[7] the distributor of Frisbee's in Canada, and proposed their show to promote the Frisbee. Their first professional show was a Basketball half-time show at Jarvis Collegiate Institute in Toronto. The students loved it; Westerfield and Kenner [8] were paid twenty dollars each for the show, but more importantly they had proven that their show would be beneficial to help promote the Frisbee. In 1972 they were retained by Irwin Toy to perform at Special Community and Sporting Events across Canada,[9][10] Making Westerfield and Kenner full-time Professional Frisbee Players.[11]

First Frisbee Pairs Freestyle Tournament 1974

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Ken Westerfield in 1977

Long before Frisbee was ever considered a sport Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner were two of a handful of players to achieve the equivalent of what would be considered a professional Frisbee athlete.[12] Without the incentives of scholarships, signing bonuses, contracts or even awards, Westerfield and Kenner had the status of being members of the first of the best in Frisbee freestyle, with no other reward than the pure joy of doing the activity they loved. Some of today's techniques [13][14] as well as competitive formats [15] came from these pioneers.

In 1974, Westerfield and Kenner teamed up with Jeff Otis, event coordinator for the Canadian National Exhibition, to produce the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships [16][17] It was at this Tournament that Ken and Jim introduced an event called Frisbee Freestyle [18][19] and won it.[20]


An excerpt from The Decades Awards 1970-75 Ken Westerfield/Jim Kenner Top Routine [21]

Considered the greatest speedflow game of all time. Ken and Jim put on a clinic to cap off a blistering hot final by all of the teams. They featured a rhythmic and dynamic style with concise catch and throw combinations.[22] These two gentlemen are credited with creating formal flying disc freestyle competition. The 1973 Canadian Open did not have freestyle as an event. They were able to finally convince the tournament director to go forward with their plan. The end result made history.[23]

This was the first Pairs Frisbee Freestyle Competition [24][25] ever. This event is now accepted as one of the premier events in flying disc tournaments worldwide[26]

That same year Ken and Jim approached Molson Breweries [27] with the Idea of performing at Basketball Half-times in Canadian universities as the Molson Frisbee Team.[28]Always looking for unique ways to get into the university market, they accepted their proposal and were more than impressed with the results. The next year, Molson's up the promotional fee and used their show exclusively to introduce a new brand of beer called Molson Diamond.

In 1975 Ken and Jim, with Molson's sponsorship, moved the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships [29] from the Canadian National Exhibition to Toronto Islands.[30] Molson's would remain sponsors of Westerfield and Kenner for several years, helping to successfully promote their product, as well as offering Ken and Jim the ability to promote their new sport everywhere.

Competitive Years 1974-78

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Sidearm Distance Throw

Frisbee (Disc) tournaments were beginning to attract excellent disc competitors from everywhere. What was once a top selling toy from Wham-O, was becoming a serious competitive sport. In 1975, at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto, Westerfield set the MTA (maximum time aloft) World Record with a sidearm throw[31] of 15 seconds,[32][33] using a Super Pro Model Frisbee, crushing the old record of 11 seconds. Also in 1975 Westerfield invented a freestyle move call body rolls,[34] (rolling the disc across out stretched arms and chest, or back), then introduced the move at a national tournament in Rochester, NY called the AFDO (American Flying Disc Open). The hottest move of the day was called the Canadian Mind Blower. Westerfield would roll the Frisbee across out stretched arms and chest, to out stretched arms across the back (front to back roll). Today body rolls[35]are an intrical part of every freestyle routine.

In 1976, Wham-O sponsored the National Series Frisbee Championships across the US and Canada, to qualify players for the world championships held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. In 1976-7 Westerfield won numerous freestyle and individual events.[36][37]

At a National Series Frisbee Tournament in Dallas Texas, Westerfield became a member of the 400 club by winning the distance event with a sidearm throw[38] of 444 feet,[39] using a 119-gram World Class Model Frisbee.

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Mary Kathron Goodtimes Professional Frisbee Show

Only a handfull of competitors had ever thrown over 400 feet in competition with a 119-gram Frisbee (Light weight disc by todays standard). 1978, in Boulder, Colorado, while doing a distance throwing demonstration at a National Series Event, Westerfield threw a sidearm119-gram World Class Model Frisbee, 552 feet, a new distance record.[40][41][42]

This is how Kevin (Skippy Jammer) Givens, five time World Freestyle Champion,[43] remembers it:

Some one paced off the distance to a building at 500 feet. Dave Johnson [44] (former distance world record holder) and others we're trying to hit it. Finally Dave hits the building and the crowd goes wild. Ken Westerfield was sitting and watching. After Dave hit the building the crowd started to yell for Ken to throw. At first Ken was dismissive, not interested. Finally Ken stood up, went to the line, sized up the task then let it fly. It landed in the parking lot past the building on his first throw with no warm up. The crowd went crazy. It was the most incredible throw I'd ever seen.[45]

Tournament officials properly marked and measured the throw at 552 feet. The longest throw ever. Since the the introduction of heavy weight, sharp edge disc, [46] the world record is now over 800 feet.[47] However Westerfield still holds the record for the sidearm throw.[48]

In 1978, Kenner moved to London, Ontario, and there created a disc manufacturing company called Discraft.[49] Westerfield moved to Santa Cruz, California, teaming up with Tom Schot, to help produce Frisbee events in Northern California, including the Santa Cruz World Flying Disc Championships. Ken also created a Frisbee Show called Goodtimes Professional Frisbee Show that featured Freestyle Champion Mary Kathron,[50] and later World Freestyle Champion Brian McElwain.[51] This touring team performed shows at universities, fairs and professional sporting events throughout the US and Canada. Returning to Toronto in 1979, Ken and Mary continued to do cross country touring shows with Corporate sponsors, Labatt Brewing Company, Air Canada, Lee Jeans and Orange Crush.

Ultimate Frisbee in Canada

Retiring from competing in National Tournaments, Westerfield organized and produced local disc events in Toronto, and because of his love of Ultimate Frisbee, in 1980 Ken, with the help of Irwin Toy's Bob Blakely and Chris Lowcock, created the Toronto Ultimate League. The first year there were four teams. The Toronto Ultimate League developed into the Toronto Ultimate Club, which now has 3300 members and over 250 Teams playing year round.[52] In 2010, Westerfield was inducted into the Toronto Ultimate Club Hall of Fame.

This is a passage taken from the Hall of Fame presentation:

In the late 1970’s Ken discovered the game of Ultimate in the USA and brought it to Toronto. He introduced the game at Kew Beach to an initial core of people and from there planted the seed for Ultimate Frisbee in Toronto. Ken was larger than life to this growing core of players who craved increased knowledge and skill development. He created pickup and the establishment of the Toronto Ultimate League. (4 teams) beginning in 1980. Not only was he an architect for the origins of the TUC, but Ken’s influence as a player and a person made his reputation legendary. Simply put, he was the point man on all aspects of disc play, the "go to" guy that everyone looked up to. (TUC Hall of Fame)

Ken Westerfield now lives in Bisbee, Arizona.

See also

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Ken Westerfield Today

External links

Newspaper articles

Books about Frisbee

Stancil, E. D., and Johnson, M. D.; Frisbee, A Practitioner's Manual and Definitive Treatise, Workman Publishing Company, New York (July, 1975); ISBN 978-0-911104-53-0

Horowitz, Judy, and Bloom, Billy; Frisbee: More Than A Game of Catch, Leisure Press, Champagne, Illinois (1984); ISBN 978-0880111058

Norton, Gary; The Official Frisbee Handbook, Bantam Books, Toronto/New York/London (July, 1972); no ISBN

Danna, Mark, and Poynter, Dan; Frisbee Players' Handbook, Parachuting Publications, Santa Barbara, California (1978); ISBN 0-915516-19-5

Tips, Charles, and Roddick, Dan; Frisbee Sports & Games, Celestial Arts, Millbrae, California (March 1979); ISBN 978-0-89087-233-8

Tips, Charles; Frisbee by the Masters, Celestial Arts, Millbrae, California (March 1977); ISBN 978-0-89087-142-3

Morrison, Fred & Kennedy, Phil; Flat Flip Flies Straight! True Origins of the Frisbee, Wormhole Publishers, Wethersfield, CT (January 2006); ISBN 0-9774517-4-7

Notes and references

  1. ^ Discraft Freestyle
  2. ^ Disc Golf Hall of Fame
  3. ^ Discraft Freestyle
  4. ^ Frisbee Freestyle
  5. ^ 1979 World Frisbee Golf Championship
  6. ^ "The story of the first Yonge Street pedestrian mall". Blogto.com. 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  7. ^ "History of TUC :: Toronto Ultimate Club". Tuc.org. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  8. ^ Discraft
  9. ^ The Leader-Post - Jul 14, 1976
  10. ^ .History of the Toronto Ultimate Club
  11. ^ The Calgary Herald - Aug 11, 1976
  12. ^ FPA Freestyle History
  13. ^ freestyle techniques
  14. ^ Freestyle History
  15. ^ FPA Freestyle History
  16. ^ Canadian Frisbee Championships.
  17. ^ "Background of the FPA - The Freestyle Frisbee Page from". freestyledisc.org. 1974-08-18. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  18. ^ WFDF Timelines
  19. ^ Discraft Freestyle
  20. ^ WFDF Timelines
  21. ^ The Decade Awardes
  22. ^ Freestyle Frisbee Page
  23. ^ The Decades Award 1970-1975 author: Kevin Givens. Ken Westerfield/Jim Kenner Canadian Open 1974 Westerfield and Kenner put on a clinic to cap off a blistering hot final by all of the teams. This was also the very first formal flying disc freestyle competition ever. They featured a rhythmic and dynamic style with concise catch and throw combinations. These two gentlemen are credited with creating formal flying disc freestyle competition. The 1973 Canadian Open did not have flying disc freestyle as an event. They were able to finally convince the tournament director to go forward with their plan. The end result made history.
  24. ^ Disceaft Freestyle
  25. ^ History of Freestyle Westerfield and Kenner thought a Freestyle Event would be a natural addition to the traditional distance and accuracy events that characterised competitions of that era. The Canadian Open featured eight freestyle teams. Among the illustrious pairings were Doug Corea/Jim Palmeri, John Kirkland/Jose Montalvo, Irv Kalb/Dave Meyers, Dan Roddick /Bruce Koger, Tom Cleworth/John Connelly and finally, Jim and Ken. The competitive art form, which began to form at Berkeley six years earlier, was born at the Canadian Open on Sunday August 18, 1974.|
  26. ^ Freestyle Players Asociation
  27. ^ "The Evolution Of Disc Golf Discs By". Discraft founded in 1978 in London Ontario, Jim Kenner later moved the company to Michigan. Most golfers don't know that Jim Kenner is the inventor of Frisbee Freestyle. He and his partner Ken Westerfield were sponsored by Molson's Beer and toured Canada performing. They held a Frisbee tournament in Toronto in 74' and introduced the exciting new event of Freestyle. This event basically has a two person team performing tricks with a disc, usually set to music. The event is judged much like gymnastics. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  28. ^ Molson Frisbee Team
  29. ^ Freestyle History
  30. ^ Toronto Ultimate Club History
  31. ^ Flying Disc Techniques
  32. ^ Sarasota Herald-Tribune - May 21, 1978
  33. ^ Florence Times Daily June 6, 1976
  34. ^ Frisbee Freestyle Techniques
  35. ^ Frisbee Freestyle Techniques
  36. ^ The Decades Award 1970-1975 author: Kevin Givens. Top Mens Player Ken Westerfield Ken Westerfield Big, Strong and Athletically gifted. Known for his overall skills as well. His forehand power throw in particular is probably still unmatched for sheer power. His freestyle skills did not take a back seat. He was adept at intricate moves especially in the speedflow game. He was also an innovator. It is believed that he was the first person to do a body roll. The hottest move of the day was called the "Canadian Mind blower" which was a front roll to a foot tip to a backroll.
  37. ^ WFDF Field Events
  38. ^ Flying Disc Throwing Techniques
  39. ^ TUC Hall of Fame
  40. ^ Distance Records
  41. ^ TUC Hall of Fame
  42. ^ Frisbee, sports and games, Celestial Arts Charles Tips Dan Roddick
  43. ^ Freestyle Records
  44. ^ World Distance records
  45. ^ Kevin Givens, Distance Records
  46. ^ Evolution of Discs
  47. ^ World Distance Records
  48. ^ Flying Disc Throwing Techniques
  49. ^ http://www.discraft.com/index.html
  50. ^ The Leader-Post - Aug 4, 1979
  51. ^ 1995 FPA World Championships
  52. ^ History of Toronto Ulitmate Club,

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