Today, only the UMW male and female ultimate frisbee teams play on campus, but Mary Wash was once host to a statewide frisbee tournament that brought competitors from all across the country, not to mention the beloved frisbee golf course that encircled our campus. Frisbee was a staple of campus, either a treasured pastime or a pesky nuisance. While not present today, the legacy of the MWC Frisbee Team, classically dubbed “the mothers,” is still well and alive every year across the river at John Lee Pratt Park in the modern rendition of the Virginia States Frisbee Tournament.
Hugh Lowry was and still is a self proclaimed townie, living off of Cornell Street below campus. Even before enrolling at Mary Washington College, Hugh would lounge below his flowering magnolia tree with his bag of frisbees wrapped around it until anyone wanted to play. Around the same time in the mid 1970’s, professor John Pickerill and some of his friends created the iconic MWC Frisbee Golf Course all around campus; with 18 holes, this course became well used and well loved by students, faculty, local and foreigners alike. Alongside them and Eric Wooten and Shannon Elder, the frisbee club was born with Hugh as the interim head coach and “a lot of skeptical looks” from others on campus. The two lines frisbee toss became a common sight on Ball Circle and thus cemented Fredericksburg and Mary Washington College as a frisbee haven in the region.
It was around April of 1976 that the very first Virginia States Frisbee Tournament was held at the University of Mary Washington; as a true discathon, athletes competed in frisbee golf on the iconic course, maximum time aloft, distance and freestyle. The whole ordeal was catered by Lazlo’s Weenie World, a DIY restaurant serving peanut butter sandwiches from the trunk of a student’s car.
Times changed and frisbees changed with it; Mr. Lowry recalls the change from round edge discs, to beveled edge discs for frisbee golf that occurred around the same time as the sport was gaining popularity worldwide and on campus. Come September 1988, President Anderson had enough of frisbee players turning campus pathways into a gauntlet and turning campus into their “personal playground” and restricted frisbee to “Jefferson Square, Ball Circle and the “neck” area of the Goolrick playing fields.” Mr. Lowry was even restricted from coming onto the campus he lived just a couple blocks away from.
This was not the end for Fredericksburg Frisbee. Hugh along with Eric and Bonnie Wooten, Brian Stableford and other devoted frisbee fanatics set up a frisbee golf course at St. Clair Brooks Park across the water. From humble beginnings came the modern version of the Virginia States Frisbee Tournament that occurs every year. Hugh and his wife Alice help out at Lazlo’s Weenie World, which is now a full scale vegetarian restaurant built at the picnic stands at the park. Although Hugh doesn’t compete today, his legacy lives on in the Hugh Lowry plaque given to the winning male competitor of the tournament.
Steinbaum, Max. Hugh Lowry Interview. Cornell, 15:15 February 28, 2024. https://mailumw-my.sharepoint.com/personal/msteinb2_mail_umw_edu/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fmsteinb2%5Fmail%5Fumw%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FMy%20Stuff%2FUMW%20Stuff%2FJunior%20Year%20%2723%2D%2724%2FSpring%20Semester%2FHIST%20428%20%2D%20Digital%20History%2FHugh%20Lowry%20Interview%2EMP4&referrer=StreamWebApp%2EWeb&referrerScenario=AddressBarCopied%2Eview.