Title: 1969 Jul5—Telegram to James Boggio—WSJ Front page—Bravo from Lt. Col. Elizabeth Roche
Subtitle: Elizabeth (Betty Mae) Roche, Lt. Colonel, USAF congratulates James Boggio. “Bravo for making the front page of the Wall Street Journal regarding the International Frisbee Tournament and the “Hamlet” of Eagle Harbor.”
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Format: Western Union Telegram
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Number of Pages: 1
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Special Notes: Betty Mae is a notable figure herself. Born in 1911 she joined the first group of women to train to be officers in the US Army at the onset of World War II. She served in the Philippines under General MacArther and at wars end taught at MTU (then Michigan College of Mining and Technology). When the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted in 1948 she left MTU to join the Air Force. She retired in 1965 at the highest permanent rank attainable by a woman at that time.
Excerpts from the front-page article in the Wall Street Journal include: “This weekend crack Frisbee players from all over the country plan to invade the Hamlet of Eagle Harbor in Michigan's Upper Peninsula… There’s even an International Frisbee Association whose membership has soared to 28,000 now from about 3,000 a year ago… Guts Frisbee is played by two five-man teams standing about 15 yards apart. They hurl the plastic disks at each other with awesome force, scoring points when an opponent fails to catch a throw one-handed… If tradition is followed, the tournament committee will select a Frisbee queen from among the oldest women in and around Eagle Harbor, according to Jim Boggio, tournament director… Legends about the origins of Frisbee are many- all probably apocryphal. One has it that way back in 1827 a Yale man named Frisbee sailed a church collection plate 200 feet across the campus in protest against compulsory chapel. Movie people claim it all started in Hollywood in the 1940s when film editors relaxed at lunch by sailing empty film tins. But most Frisbee historians agree that the modern era began after World War II when the clientele of the now-defunct Frisbie Baking Co. of Bridgeport, Conn. found that the tin plates holding Mother Frisbie's pies were great for soaring.”
Contributor(s): James Boggio, from the files of (Gentleman) Jim Boggio