This page is dedicated to the history and stories behind the Eastern College Ultimate Frisbee team. Ultimate Frisbee, as a whole, has been around for quite some time and is often passed along to new players during childhood years through scouting, summer camps, and high school events. You can visit the World Flying Disc Federation web page to read the History of Ultimate Frisbee as a sport and a timeline of flying disc play. The stories on this site have been submitted orally and via email by our players and transcribed for posting. They appear in chronological order dating back to the beginnings of the team. We have included a Table of Contents for easy reference. Enjoy and BREED ULTIMATE!!

• The story of How It All Began (1994)
• Joshua Perrin - My Life as an Ultimate Player (1994)
• Carter Crain - a legend is born
• 1996 yearbook Entry
• 1997 yearbook Entry
• The Decline and Rebirth of '98 (part 1)
• The Decline and Rebirth of '98 (part 2)
• Fall of 1999
  • Intramurals
  • Tournament Team
  • Women
  • Tourneys
  • Floyd
  • Homecoming
  • Hosting the Freeze Your Socks Off Tourney
• Our Vision for the future.

The Brainstorm - 1994 (submitted by "Johnny Five" Sullivan)

        It was the Spring of 1994. John was freshman at this grand place called Eastern College. Some upperclassmen put up a sign around school with a Frisbee on it, some cheesy youth group clipart graphic of a guy throwing a Frisbee and a sentence the effect of, "Anybody who enjoys throwing a Frisbee around, come to this meeting. We are thinking about starting a club."
        John and his friend Scott, went to Lower Walton Lounge. They decided that this might be something fun to do; to get involved at Eastern. They show up. There were 10 people in the room.
        The founding people were Curving Stine, Bob Paglo, and a grisly looking dude named Kevin Cole, a 28 year-old sophomore in college. It looked like a fun group of guys, and they started talking about this sport called Ultimate Frisbee, and asked if anyone had played it. Well John raised his hand and said that he had played Frisbee football in High school and was wondering if that was the same thing. Well it wasn't the same thing, but John and his friend figured it was worth checking out. They started explaining the rules of the game and "Spirit of the Game" and this was something that John had never heard of before, but he knew that chucking the Frisbee around would be fun.
        They started talking about how they were going to practice as a team and be dedicated and run in the mornings and how we are going to go to tournaments and John was like, "Tournaments, you mean like with other schools?" and they were like "yeah we play tournaments with other schools," and so they explained the platform of how you go to sectionals, and we were going to get a team together for sectionals, which was in like, three weeks, and that if we won sectionals, we were going to go to regionals and if you won regionals you go to nationals, and nationals was in Colorado that year, and they thought, man that'd be awesome to go to nationals, and if you win nationals you go to worlds which is in Switzerland. And so he and Scott left the meeting, signed up to be on the team. They started talking about it on the way back, how it would be cool to go to Colorado and maybe (laugh) get the school to pay for it. (bigger laugh). So, that's the beginning of the team.
        John said, "We tried to get funding and we tried to get gym time and nothing seemed to be working out for us. We had some connections on the student government association and so we were able to declare ourselves a Co-Ed club sport. We wrote a constitution. We really wanted to be THE alternative sport at Eastern. But, we really felt the wrath of the sports department and the 'athletes' on campus. We were constantly being kicked off the soccer field for our season and we would end up playing most of our practices and scrimmages at around 9 o'clock at night on the soccer field with barely lit fields and while trying to escape the geese. We felt so un-apart of the school and unwelcome that we voted on a team name and we came up with 'The Exiles' kind for two reasons. We thought the name was cool, and second of all, we really didn't feel like we were part of the Eastern community.
        As time has gone on we have definitely become a part of the Eastern community and started intramurals, started a sport that anybody with a willingness to have fun can play, and that's the story of the beginning of Eastern Ultimate."

        Back in 1994 my freshman year I was commuting and looking for new things to do with my time since I had so much freedom.  A friend of mine who lived on campus in a double bed room in good "Old" Hainer with no room mate gladly had me stay over nights when I didn't feel like trucking back to Malvern.  He was a crazy rock climbing Hoosier by the name of Jeremy Giddens, after sneaking me into the cafeteria one day we met some guys Bob Paglo and Curtis Stine who were starting the Ultimate Frisbee club on campus.  They told us a little about this Ultimate club meeting and when practices would be held.   Jeremy and Myself quickly jumped at this since we had been caught and warned  by security to stop doing  crazy things like scaling and swinging with Jeremy's climbing equipment from Dorms, Classrooms and the Library.  This sounded daring and unsupervised so we gave it a shot.
        I remember the days of legendary Carter Crain, because we were not allowed on the same team He covered me I covered him.  Well like in all sports I am known for defense not as much offense.  Carter got plenty of gooood grabs against me, you don't hear about the ones he dropped, bobbled or had stolen by people like me.  All Good Carter.  We also coverered each other in Football, too.  Man that guy made me hyper ventilate sometimes.  But most of the time I could keep in arms distance.  His room mate Mike  ?, was also a player great tosser.  Kevin Cole, Curvin and Bob were the veterans wit sum skillz.  Jeremy and I were newbies and we did our part.  John and Scotty were definitely players and were a good back bone to that first year.  Sorry girls its been awhile, so I don't remember the names.  Anyway Our first tournaments were a blast, we even got Long black sleeve shirts, that I still have.  With the fire emblem and EXILES in flames, with a passage from Exodus I believe.  That was another reason for our name we were exiled like God's people because we were not doing the same as everybody else.  
        I remember the Lehigh and Penn State Tourneys more than the others that year.  Lehigh, good learning experience, what to do and what not to do.  We did a little of both but pulled together as a team and showed some life to represent a first year program trying their best.  Penn State was a rainy day, drenched and muddy which by far are the best conditions unless you didn't bring your cleats, Oh man you would be in trouble.  So the day was great we did not win as much as we would have liked,  you play several teams in the course of a few hours.  The One main thing I remember is the team that had a Keg of Beer and were very inebriated that put us to shame and  beat us quick and effortlessly.  That was a team builder if I must say so, because we were not going to live that one down it was always good inspiration that no team is to be overlooked or underestimated. 
        It was a blast all year, nice cool fall and winter nights on the fields late at nigh, yeah goose crap was on all of us.   We did get kicked off of every field.  So did the skateboarders, which I was one, we didn't care.  The frisbee still spun, during lunch and breaks late in the day, on pavement and on grass.  People definitely noticed that we were somebody and that beats all, because we were grit and grime, not prime time.  When Joe Modica, Randy Blackford and Bettie-Ann Brigham noticed that was a good thing, they were the connection of students to faculty.  Jeremy and I practiced in the hallways, street, parking lots, soccer field, field hockey field, woods, library field (now softball), the lakes and Old Heritage (now a dorm and parking lot).  I am glad to say I was a part of this organization, and glad to have read some old memories.  I won't call myself a legend but I was one of the pioneers. 
        Ultimate moment in my memory.  Another Jeremy, last name Galton from california long blond hair also named Zorba.   He was a new recruit maybe 1996, we had a little game one day on the soccer field of all places,  no teams were in town I guess.  It was a random pick up game, round up and toss 'em.  The original Jeremy Giddens was in town the crazy rock climber,  he left college to become a navy seal.  Well he was on a little break before BUDS training the final stage for a Navy Seal.  What do you know, he just had to make an impression literally.  Someone tossed the disc deep in the endzone, and I can't remember who was defense or offense.  Well the two Jeremy's collided and Giddens made a great effort but instantly knew something was wrong.  Yeah, it was blood and lots of it, His nose was busted wide open.  Our hallmate Ox came over and reset it for him, captain crunch should have been his name after that.  What a game, can't forget that if I tried. 
        Go Ultimate, play on dive hard.  Big shout to both Jeremy's, Curvin, Johnny "five", Kevin Cole, Angel, Mike, Bob Paglo and especially you Carter Crain. 

        It was the first year of intramurals and the captain, Curvin, approached John and said, "John I think you would make a good captain someday. Would you like to be a captain of an intramural team?" He said, "What are you crazy? I don't want to be a captain." A little positive peer pressure motivated to change his mind. They had these intramural teams and John's was a little short staffed so they told him that there were some freshmen on campus that wanted to play. They told him that he was gonna get this skinny redhead kid named Carter Crain and that he should give him a call. John thought to himself, "Oh great. I get some freshman; some redheaded freshman." As it turns out, within about a week he noticed that Carter caught everything John threw to him, no matter how crisp or crappy or totally swill the throw was. They started calling him Hands, That was his first nickname; 'Carter Hands Crain.' Carter began calling John 'five.' So it was Johnny Five and Carter Hands Crain and they dominated that intramural season. Even though they lost in the final game, they both say that the whole thing was a lot of fun. "Carter turned into one of our best players and a future captain."
        Since those early days, Hands and Five have taught many new Eastern Students the love of the game. One of Carter's most prominent protégés is Jeremy 'Hoover' Fowler. Fowler sucks up every disc put in his general direction and he is not afraid to go Vert over the head of some big Drexel dude or to get HO on a cone. Carter and Five also brought another powerful dimension to the game; spirituality. One of their first team slogans was "Strive to Serve." They are fondly remembered to this day. Their stories continue to be passed down to new players and many of us aspire to achieve their level of Skill, Spirit, and Love of the Game. Thank you Carter, Sully and the crew of people who got this team started back in '94.

        Eastern College's Ultimate Frisbee Team, the Exiles, play the only sport on campus where both men and women can compete [with and] against each other. Ultimate is also the only sport that has a year round schedule. The Exiles are not only a team, they are a ministry. The team's two mottos are "Strive to Dive" and Strive to Serve." Our team goal is to serve Jesus Christ and to try to become better Ultimate players.

        The Ultimate Frisbee group practiced faithfully, even at their midnight to 2:00 AM practices in the gym. This club offers another sport in which the students of Eastern College may participate and it supplies another way to develop physical well-being. The group even traveled to various competitions this year; such as tourneys at the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond.

        It was John's senior year. "Both Carter and I graduated the same year. We had carried the team, we had done everything for three years. Every year we kept coming out and teaching new people how to play and they would develop and then some other activity would take most of their time. It seemed like we would teach 6 people how to play and only one or two would be around the following year. It got a little frustrated. So, we had a great senior year as an Ultimate team and we graduated. Carter left. I came back as a graduate student.
        We had carefully picked the captains for the future to carry on the team our senior year. The difficult thing was, when we chose those captains, they were all first year students, and we honestly didn't see anyone in the junior class. We asked and there really wasn't anyone interested in carrying it on in the upperclassmen ranks, and we wanted to really put it on a good foundation; the shoulders of someone who would be there for the next three or four years. These guys really had a heart and a love for the game, but the organization skill wasn't all there and Laddy doddy dah..., and it didn't take off the next year.
        I felt like, as a grad student, as a person who was a GRA, and as a person who was burnt out to some extent, being the leader, it just didn't happen; it being the team. The guys just didn't put things together in an organizational way. There was no clear vision. Things just declined to the point were it was non-existent. We'd show up for homecoming and we would rush everybody together for one tournament here and there, but it wasn't a growing thing. It wasn't a growing organism.
        Then the rise happens when, all it takes is one person, one person said, "Hey, I really love playing on this team, I wanna make it into something better; what I heard it used to be." Drew kinda took charge when no-one else was. He was just looking for someone to tell him to go ahead and do it. He was looking for an opportunity to make something happen. I'll never forget the day I looked at the ultimate spot on the club board and I said, "I'm sick of that ultimate spot being empty." Drew was there and Drew's like, "well - want me to put something up?," and I was like, "Yeah! - put something up!!" Drew put something up and that year, Drew put about 50 thousand things up, and it got interest going.
        Everyone started talking about this crazy nut, lived in Doane playing ultimate and it just grew from there. We grew from where we we're into having a girls team and a guys team, and we have the influence of a guy who plays in the area locally, Tim Desilets, who came over with a lot of good skills, a good work ethic, a consistent face on the field that year, sort of a teacher of the game, so to speak, and that's always helpful.

I got invited out to this Frisbee thing by some guys on my hall during the second semester of my freshman year (Spring '98). I had moved to Doane A ground and this guy named Jeremy Fowler, lived upstairs. He had more discs than I could count. He invited me out to this thing he did on Sundays called Ultimate. Well we had some good practices, mostly on the field behind the library where the softball field was built, and on the Heritage house field where there is now a parking lot and North Campus Hall. Then Jeremy mentioned a tourney called Retired to Stud. I decided I wanted to go. We took a bunch of people and I had a great time. I played middle and learned a lot. Most of the throws went between Johnny 5 and Carter to two guys named Chris Tiegen and Paul Ayers who were usually in the end-zones. That was actually the first game Tiegen had played and by the 5th long bomb, he really got the hang of reading the disc. Anyways, that psyched me up about Ultimate. Shortly after the tourney, summer break came and we all went home.
        Come fall, I wanted to play some more. Jeremy had put up these signs for people wanting to play ultimate. I came to a meeting in B lounge and there was like 30 people there. I put my name on his sheet. They asked people to be captains and nobody really volunteered so He, Paul Airs, Bo, and another guy kinda defaulted into the positions. We had a Sunday pickup game at 2:00pm and that was our playing time. We usually went over to the field behind heritage house because we got kicked off everything else.
        This guy Tim started coming and he helped me with my flick a little and he invited anyone, who wanted to work on their skills, to an additional practice on Thursdays at 4:30 on the same field. Allie, Mandy and I became the Thursday regulars. Every week, the four of us went out and practiced. Tim began to put a bug in my ear about trying to help get more people out. We also started talking about tourneys. Ultimate really started to die that fall of my sophomore year. I really felt like only the four of us really had any stake in it anymore. Hardly anyone came out to Sunday stuff anymore, and this guy Johnny who I looked up to a little was starting to get feed up with it all. I then asked Jeremy what tourneys were coming up and he just didn't seem to have the time to really do a lot with it. That's when I started to try to get more involved.
        I got some information and some players names and numbers. We went home for winter break and when we came back in the Spring, Tim and I were really up about the season. We started talking about having a meeting and again asking for captains and people to come and play. He and I went to this PADA pickup game at Drexel one night. We were on the phone talking about it one Tuesday night in Mid-January of '99 and he asked me when the games took place. I said I didn't know so I popped on the internet and found out that it was Tuesday nights. He asked me what time. The game started at 9:30 PM and it was 8:30 at that point. I printed out the directions and Tim drove over to pick me up without a second thought. (I think he even sort of ditched his girlfriend that night. It was kinda funny.) That's when I really got excited about Ultimate.
        We had a lot of fun and thought about using Drexel's lit Astroturf field and Tuesday pickup game as a practice game for us. Tim and I went for a few more weeks and then decided to start talking it up. Hardly any of last years players were interested in continuing with Ultimate at that point so we posted signs saying that we were having a club meeting in Upper Walton lounge on a Wed night to discuss captains, and a practice schedule. I picked up a copy of the club constitution in the SGA office that the founders had written and we asked for people to volunteer for the position of captain. Jeremy Fowler, Mandy Foster, and I raised our hands. We asked for those in favor of these three people becoming captains to raise their hands and then that those opposed do the same. The ten people present voted unanimously in favor of the nominations.
        Mandy took on a role as the treasure and women's team captain. I took on web page and communication support and I helped Jeremy with tourney preparations. Through Tim's leadership, Johnny Five's go-ahead, and God's grace, we brought the dwindling Ultimate team back up to the numbers we had seen in the early fall. We began holding spaghetti dinners, and team meetings, and regular practices throughout the week. Key players began carrying their discs as advertisement for the team. The team really began to take off. We were practicing 5 days a week and had a conditioning day on the 6th. We rested on Monday. Everyone had a great time. We went to the RTS tourney and we sent a co-ed team of 20 or so to Sectionals. It was an awesome Spring semester.

        Tim had the captains talking Ultimate up from day one that we were back on campus. We all carried our discs around began recruiting freshmen before they were scooped up by other activities. Weekend number two of the fall semester, we had 70 students come out to the first big ultimate weekend of the season. We had a huge Saturday / Sunday event for anyone who ever had any interest, at any time, in picking up a disc. We were running 40 regular participants who would drop in at various times.
        Chris Winkler in Conferences got involved with us this semester. He really became a key player in all of the events that took place this season and we totally appreciate all of the hard work he put into making it a success. Without his help, and the help of Dr. Ted Chamberlain, we would not have gotten access to the sports fields which we have not been kicked off of until this term. Out hats off to you both. Thank you.
        Through their efforts, we were able to get field space for Ultimate Frisbee intramurals. We worked out a private agreement with the women's Lacrosse team to use the soccer field, just before their scheduled practices and this really helped us out a lot.

        These Intramurals were not officially sponsored or sanctioned by Athletics, but non-the-less we organized 4 teams of 11 players to compete each Sunday afternoon throughout the fall semester. These games went well and embodied everything we hold dear about Ultimate. We cheered each other and the Spirit of the Game ran high. It was awesome. Thanks to all who participated.

        We officially named a Tournament Team this semester. We wanted to make sure that the players who were only interested in Intramurals did not feel compelled to come to the practices that were designed to prepare the Tourney team for tough competition. These practices were held on Wednesday and Thursday on the new softball field or on the back hill of Doane when, as usual, other field space was not available. Both days were well attended and many players got together with each other outside of these times to work on throwing and general conditioning.

        We did something unprecedented in Eastern Ultimate History this semester. We had so many players involved that we categorized the Tourney Team into Men's and Women's divisions. We all practiced together, just like normal, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but then the women also held an addition practice on Friday. A few guys attended this day as sideline encouragement (and some occasional good natured heckling).

        We attended 3 tournaments this semester including Retired to Stud 7 and 8 and a tourney host by the University of Maryland, Tim's old stomping ground. We took home the spirit award in both RTS tournaments and did very well competitively at the Maryland Tournament going 4 and 1 to win the Tourney. Our women played in their own division (instead of as a Co-ed team) and did quite well. They held Mare's Nest to a mere 4-8 victory in the hour and a half game. The Eastern College Women also did quite well in their other three games. Everyone had a great time. The highlight was when ECW stole the Spirit award away from the long-standing titleholder, the Drew U Bovines. Go ECW - YOU ROCK!!

        The Exiles have been forced at times to play in less than ideal conditions, but this year we topped them all, and did so by choice. Hurricane Floyd had moved its way up the coast and was scheduled to be off of Penn's Landing at 4:00 PM. Practice would not be canceled!! Six Eastern Ultimate women and four men braved the wind, the rain, the floods, and the mud to play some ultimate during Thursday's Hurricane. The club board read, Practice today at 4:30 P.M. - Doane Hill. Yo Floyd, Bring it!!
        Practice consisted of layout drills, reading drills, and an hour-long scrimmage. Everyone had a great time. And come the next day, the back hill of Doane was none the worse for the wear.

        Homecoming weekend was a blast. Thanks to Chris Winkler we were able to secure the field hockey field during Saturday's events. Forty-Five players and an uncountable number of spectators (as few as 70 at one point and as many as 250 at another) made the homecoming Veterans and Rookies VS Upperclassmen game a huge success all the way around. We all had fun. Our parents saw us play the sport we love. We got some non-players asking questions. We also made our presence known to the folks walking around, and a lot of people saw E.C. students playing disc. We started the event with a Team lap, a group prayer, full body Ro-Sham-Bo.
        The upperclassmen put 7 on the line and rallied themselves with a huge Thunder cats cheer, which was promptly answered from the far side with a "Bring it Floyd!" The game was tight to start going 5-5 with the Thunder cats taking the half 8-6. The second half was a good fight for a final score of 15-9 Thunder cats. We had a large number of great plays, gratuitous layouts, and scores by many including one scubber. Neither side held any excitement back went it came to the spectacular. Cheers were going out from both ends of the fields for the great plays of the day. We were joined on the field by a parent or two, and some siblings. Spirit of the game won out the day and everyone had a great time. We ended the day with a Buttercup cheer to the parents and a vets VS vets game to three.

        The Exiles hosted their second Tournament in the history of the team this fall. On the morning of December 4th 1999, Ultimate teams for 5 other colleges and Universities rolled into McInnis parking lot and trekked over to the Great Room of the NRH to begin what would remembered as the Warmest Cold Weather Tourney Hat Tourney in EC Ultimate history. We almost had to change the name from Freeze your socks off, to Sweat your socks off. Chris Winkler, Pete Berol and John Post took care of getting us T-shirts, field space, insurance waivers and medical coverage needed to successfully host an awesome event. We collected $100.00, 116 pairs of socks, 3 flannel shirts and a sweat shirt for the YACHT club use to help the homeless of Philadelphia. The theme was centered on Philippians 4:13 and God just really made it an awesome, injury free day.

        This team and this game are only what its Players make it into. Without you, Ultimate is nothing more than a tin pie pan lost in the pages of history. Mandy, Jeremy, Drew and Tim laid out some goals on a napkin while coming back from Drexel one night during the rebirth of this team and we have seen many of those goals fulfilled. We now have a strong women's team, yet we have maintained our coed status. We, as a team, have hosted a tourney. The team has become more conscious of the spiritual element and how we demonstrate that on the field. Lastly, we have become more than just a club; we are a family.

        We are still working on some of those 'napkin goals' and we have added some new ones. We still want to do a huge, week-long ministry / missions / duel tourney Spring break trip. We need to be constantly recruiting new players each semester. We want to continue to earn more respect from the administration and from the athletics department. In an effort to take a step of faith, the team discussed changing the name to something other than the EXILES since our status has begun to slowly change. Some members felt that we were still fighting too hard and not getting enough results with the athletics office. Others simply liked the sound of the name, even when it was separated from it's original meaning. As budget deadlines demanded that we place our new disc order, a decision was made to keep the name. It was suggested however that we adjust it's meaning from something so politically motivated to something more Biblical. There are hundreds of referenced of the word exile and exiles in the Bible. If you find one that you feel would be appropriate to the team mission and vision, please chat with a captain.

        This page is only a short list, a brief overview, a synopsis or as Inigo Montoya from THE PRINCESS BRIDE is quoted as saying, "Let me explain..." (pauses) "...No, there is too much. Let me sum up." There are far to many stories for one person to compile and type up. We would like to add volumes to this web site but we can't do it without your help. If you have a fond memory with the Eastern Ultimate Team and would like to share it with other players, please e-mail it to the webmaster. We need stories, legends, origins of nicknames, famous injuries, wacky plays, and more details about the early days of the team. Please make your entries detailed, accurate, family oriented and brief, but don't sacrifice quality for brevity.

• Mahaco - I wanna be like abuse boy, He's my hero.
• I wanna be like Neil - Maryland Univ. Tourney VS Hippos
• Fowler
• Allie
• Mandy Diesel, Desilets, Foster err something
• Goosepoop - Bickham
• Waxy Duck
• Shortcake
• Dan's Superman
• Brian quit soccer
• E-Mail us your story for this site, or
• Volunteer to write on of these stories for us.