FIVE SELECTED TO UPA HALL OF FAME
“Founders” also to be inducted under the Special Merit category

December 21, 2005: BOULDER, Colo. - The Ultimate Players Association (UPA), the governing body for the flying disc sport of Ultimate, announced that it has selected five Players and Contributors to the Ultimate Hall of Fame.  In addition, the three former Columbia High School students who are credited with developing the game were also chosen as Special Merit inductees.  The Ultimate Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honor the men and women “who by their deeds as Ultimate players and/or contributors, and by the example of their lives, merit acknowledgement by all individuals involved in the sport of Ultimate.”  Although the Ultimate Hall of Fame remains a “virtual” hall for the time being, the long-range goal is to establish a permanent site by 2018, the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the sport.  The formal induction ceremony, which is held every five years in conjunction with the Ultimate players’ alumni reunion, will next be held in 2008.  In the meantime, the inductees will be honored with a plaque at the UPA headquarters building in Boulder, CO and on the UPA web site at www.upa.org.

The two Contributors, three Players, and Special Merit honorees to be inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame in the 2005 Class are, respectively:

Kathy Pufahl, now deceased, who played a crucial role in the 1980s and early 1990s in organizing and overseeing the administrative responsibilities of the UPA, and set up and ran the first official UPA headquarters in an office near her home in Long Island;

Sholom (Eric) Simon, of Fairfax, VA, who was one of the longest-standing contributors to the sport, having served in a wide variety of roles in the UPA and Washington Area Frisbee Club from the 1970s through the early 2000s; and

Jon “JC” Cohn, of Wayland, MA, who was considered one of the most dominant players on the Ultimate field in the second half of the 1970s, leading one of the sport’s early powerhouse teams, Cornell University, into the National Ultimate Championship finals in 1978;

Kelly Green, of Paso Robles, CA, who was one of the leading players on teams in Michigan and Santa Barbara, CA that won the National Ultimate Championship in six out of seven years in the mid 1980s along with a World Ultimate Championship;

Jim Herrick, of Poway, CA who distinguished himself with his playing ability, spirit of the game, leadership, and infectious enthusiasm about play, culminating with his 1982 National Championship and 1983 victory at the first ever World Ultimate Championship;

The “Founders,” Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jonny Hines, who -- as students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ -- developed the game, prepared the first written set of rules, and named the sport beginning in the fall of 1968.

“We are pleased to acknowledge the accomplishments of key individuals involved in the sport of Ultimate who have distinguished themselves both on and off the field,” stated Sandie Hammerly, Executive Director of the UPA.  “Ultimate continues to be one of the fastest growing sports around the world, in colleges, high schools, and local clubs.”  Steve Mooney, UPA Alumni Director and Chair of the Ultimate Hall of Fame Committee, commented: “It is exciting to look back and better understand the historical roots of the game by looking at the stories of the candidates, each of whom stood out among their peers as having accomplished something extraordinary within the sport or its organization.”

The Selection Process
The inductees were selected by the Ultimate Hall of Fame Committee, which is appointed by the UPA Board.  Selection involves a three stage process.  The first stage involves “peer voting,” where potential candidates are reviewed and ranked by a group of players or contributors from their own playing era.  The second stage involves winnowing the field down to eight candidates through a review of the peer voting results and of written applications solicited by a five person Vetting Subcommittee.  The final stage involves a vote for up to five inductees by the full voting committee, comprised of the Vetting Subcommittee and the Player and Contributor members of the Ultimate Hall of Fame.  An inductee must receive an affirmative vote of at least 60% of the voters to be selected.  This year’s voting members of the Committee were:  Vetting Subcommittee members Steve Mooney, Tiina Booth, Andy Borinstein, Jim Parinella, and Eric Zaslow; and current Hall of Fame members Suzanne Fields, Irv Kalb, Tom Kennedy, Dan Roddick, and Larry Schindel.  Significant contributions to this year’s work of the Committee were also made by Steve Courlang and Robert L. “Nob” Rauch.

About Ultimate
Combining the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football, the game of Ultimate is played by two seven-player squads with a high-tech plastic disc on a field similar to football.  The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone.  A player must stop running while in possession of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any of the other receivers on the field.  Ultimate is a transition game in which players move quickly from offense to defense on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception, a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than ten seconds.  Ultimate is governed by Spirit of the Game™, a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players rather than referees.  Ultimate, which was developed in 1968 at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ, is now played in over 40 countries by hundreds of thousands of men and women, boys and girls.

About the UPA
The Ultimate Players Association (UPA) is a player-run not-for-profit organization based in Boulder, Colorado, USA.  Founded in 1979, the UPA is among the first flying disc sport organizations in the world and one of the largest, with approximately 20,000 members and hundreds of volunteer organizers.
The UPA serves as the governing body of the sport of Ultimate in the US.  Its mission is:

• To promote and support the sport of Ultimate and its players;
  
• To increase participation in the sport of Ultimate at all levels;
  
• To uphold the Spirit of the Game, including personal responsibility and integrity; and
  
• To provide a framework for players to organize and conduct competition and other activities related to Ultimate.
  

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For further information, contact:
Ryan John
Director of Media and Communications
Ultimate Players Association
4730 Table Mesa Drive, Suite J-200
Boulder, CO  80305  USA
+1-800-872-4384  or  +1-303-447-3472  x113  or  +1-719-499-3516