Ultimate frisbee was invented in the parking lot of Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1968, by Joel Silver, who later went on to become a big-time Hollywood producer of such movies as "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon." The first intercollegiate game took place between Rutgers and Princeton in 1972. Eric Simon, a graduate of Columbia High, started a team at Michigan State in 1975. Ultimate spread to the University of Michigan soon thereafter, and there has been an officially-recognized ultimate team here continuously since the late 1970s. UM has occasionally had some pretty strong squads over the years, and the men's team has made it to College Nationals twice, in 1987 and 1999.
Recent history
MagnUM began its current history four long years ago, in 1996, re-building the team almost from scratch. With a small team and no experience, we played savage seven at Regionals, and a tradition was born. That experience at Regionals inspired Jon Bakija and Brian Lane to build a new, better team that would allow them to sub out ocassionally. 1997 saw a large number of new, cocky recruits with even worse throws. The Michigan team took the name TUKA because of its favorite throw- The UnKatchable Axe. This young team formed quite a bond as they dominated the tough Michigan Section and made a very small amount of noise at Regionals.
The next year, 1998, is where the MagnUM history begins. After much struggle to determine a name, MagnUM, literally, won out and set its place in Michigan Ultimate history. This team, with a little more experience and with some better throws, had high expectations, but it seemed neither luck, nor God, was on their side. They made a valiant effort in worse-than blizzard conditions, but lost on the second day of Regionals. This was the saddest day of magnUM's history because it marked the loss of two of the greatest players ever to play non-competitively, Kevin "Mr. Callahan" Tiernan and Jay "Cheeseball Dickhead" Whitacre. Their reputations will live forever.
In 1999 fourteen by-now experienced players joined with twelve rookies to form a team we hoped would finally bring us to Nationals. We had a great season, with highlights including a victory over perennial powerhouse Stanford at their own tournament, and a great game against #1 Brown (which we narrowly lost 14-16). On April 25, we finally made it to Nationals by becoming the first ever champion of the new Great Lakes region. We really wanted it bad, and showed it by beating Ohio U. in the semis 15-0, and Oberlin in the finals 15-5. We finished the year as the best U. of Michigan men's ultimate team ever, taking 9th in the nation at the 1999 UPA College Nationals. At Nationals, we defeated Rice, Cornell, Oberlin, and Iowa, while falling to Brown and UNC-Chapel Hill.
After losing about half the team from 1999 to graduation and eligibility, the 2000 team started as a large but young squad. With a solid bunch of freshman, we won our first tournament of the season in Knoxville, and the train had started rolling. We didn't fare as well at Stanford as the previous year, but our play got better as the spring wore on, including a finals appearance at Terminus and victories at White Smoke and the Great Lakes Open. Our play, if not our season, culminated in a second straight sweep through the Great Lakes Regionals (played without our spiritual leader Tim Murray, who was down with a knee infection). The train rolled to Boise for the 2000 UPA College Nationals, where we again finished 9th as chump champs. Along the way, we lost to Salisbury State and Colorado while beating Santa Cruz (twice), Winona State, and Wisconsin.
This year, we begin as a slightly older squad, as our freshman are now a year older, and hopefully a year better. Combined with our skilled veterans and Hales, we are shooting for a spot in the champions bracket at Nationals.
Our Record
All games played between college teams during the regular college season (January through May) are included in a national computer power ranking compiled by the Ultimate Players Association. Here's how we've done recently:
Pictures from Recent Seasons
College Team Rosters from Years Past