Interview
Jim Herrick
Titles include:
- National Ultimate Players Association Champion – Open Division 1982, Austin Texas / Boston Rude Boys – Captain
- World Ultimate Champion – Open Division 1983,
Gotenberg, Sweden / Boston Rude Boys – Captain - Wham-O U.S. Open Flying Disc Champion - 1988 National Overall Champion
- National Ultimate Players Association Champion – Masters Division
1994, San Diego, California / Rude Boys - U.S. Flying Disc Champion - 1994 Masters Overall Champion
- U.S. Flying Disc Champion - 2006 Grand Masters Overall Champion
FDC: What enticed you to first pick up a disc?
JH: As a kid growing up in Massachusetts we threw a lot of Masters and Super pros around. It was like playing catch with a baseball or a tennis ball only more versatile. My friend Scottie Sullivan and I invented games, played catch and enjoyed the tosses. At college I got cut from the varsity basketball team as a sophomore and walked by an ultimate game on the long walk home. The timing was good. I jumped in the game.
FDC: Which disc sports did you play?
JH: I started with recreational catch, then Ultimate. In 1976 my
teammate Jon Cohn and I went as Eastern Ultimate All-Stars to play in the
Rose Bowl. We also got to participate in the World
Championships for overall disc sports so we were exposed to Guts and
Freestyle and SCF, Distance Golf, everything. Why? I decided that since I
wasn’t that great at any individual disc sport that my specialty should be
all of them. I loved the tournaments where you just went from one flying
disc sport to another in an endless frantic eclectic physical juggernaut
that was really fun!
FDC: Please provide a list of your accomplishments.
JH Getting picked to that Ultimate All America team in 1976 was an honor and a thrill. I could barely throw. When our Cornell team played Santa Barbara for the second National Championship in 1978 we got to experience the awesome camaraderie of traveling cross- country together as a team. In 1980 I was on the Boston Aerodisc team that lost in the finals to Glassboro in Atlanta. I had a great week with all of my teammates. Then the Rude Boys won it all in Austin in 1982 and we were rewarded with a trip to Europe. More than winning in Gothenburg, the travel experience with Ultimate teammates was beyond my known bounds of joy. Later I got to win some overall events including the 1988 National championship. I also played in the Goaltimate inaugural tournament!
FDC: What is the most memorable moment(s) in your playing days?
JH: Pete “Wheels” Farricker and I once worked on a crossword puzzle until 3 AM after a late Saturday night in Amherst knowing we had a crucial game at 8 the next day. I still have dreams where I am talking with Steve Mooney and Guido Adams about putting a team together. I also once threw an MTA at Irvine in 1981 that never came down. It’s still up there!
FDC: What is your favorite disc?
JH I like the Krae Van Sickle, Wham-o 80 mold. Got any?
FDC: You helped create Goaltimate. What inspired you to do so?
JH: Really, it seemed like a no-brainer at the time. The “H” style goalposts were everywhere and if, like me, you played Ultimate all the time, then some of the times enough people wouldn’t show up. Goaltimate was simply modifying the rules of sport to fit the circumstances and to make it more fun. It was the same thing my neighborhood friends and I had been doing since childhood with basketball, baseball, whiffleball, football, tennis, capture the flag, releevo, sardines, track, ping pong and more. You’d adjust the rules and the playing field with the objective of more fun.
FDC: What do you feel about the state of competitive disc sports today?
JH: The Ultimate is amazing—even at the College level. The quality of Goaltimate at the highest levels is mind-boggling to me. To see state of the art players throw short range blades through traffic that get snagged by eagle-eyed athletes astounds me. The quality of freestylers, golfers, DDC players and field events players are all on the rise. Somewhere amidst it all I sense some collective will for sportsmanship and that gladdens my heart.
FDC: What changes, if any, would you like to see in competitive disc sports?
JH: I wish that all tournament directors of every discipline would be revered at all times by the participants. It’s the directors who give us the joy.
FDC: Of all the disc people you mentored, who are you are most proud of?
JH: Teaching my son, Spencer, who embraces all disc sports and loves them. Then there is my little sister Lynn and my high school friends Bo and Nick.
FDC: Who are the people that mentored you both in life and in disc sports?
JH: My father not only played a lot of catch with me, he accepted Ultimate and Frisbee and seemed to understand the pull it had on me. Jim Palmeri, Dan Roddick, Randy Osborn, Steve Moone and Tom Kennedy.
FDC: What other sports to you enjoy?
JH: I still play basketball with college kids 3 times a week. I can still run and bike and swim although it hurts. Ping Pong. tree climbing. hand walking. Catch!
FDC: You are familiar with the International Goaltimate Organization. What words of wisdom can you offer to the IGO?
JH: Thanks to Rick Conner we have some semblance, some
tournaments, some goals and plenty of pockets of play. We know there are
hundreds of thousands of Ultimate players out there. As a 52 year old having
done the math, it gets tougher to deal with the consequences of a turnover.
Goaltimate is not only a career extender it is a lot more fun than Ultimate.
Yes I said that. Now if I was 25 or 30 and could run all day I wouldn’t say
that but now it is obvious. You get more handling, more throwing, more
catching, more diving D, more layout catches, more shots on goal; more
everything except 50 yard sprints! So keep
spreading the word to that feeder market. If Goaltimate is available they
will eventually turn toward it.
FDC: You are a member of the UPA Hall of Fame. How would you like to be remembered by your disc peers?
JH: I am most proud of the sportsmanship part.
FDC What do you do today to stay in shape?
JH: I still burn a lot of calories and try not to ingest too many of them - although that doesn’t always work. I wish they’d invent a decent lite beer.
FDC: Do you still play disc sports? If so which sport(s) do you play?
JH: I want to go out and play some Goaltimate right now. Rick Conner told me about a Tuesday night game. I’m there. I still like the overall—especially DDC and SCF.
Thank you Jim for your time and contribution to the world of flying disc.