I was lucky enough to go to a college, Carnegie Mellon, where a Columbia High School Ultimate player had started a team in 1975. I'd thrown frisbees throughout High School, going out on my own to throw MTA's when I couldn't find anyone to throw with, but these guys could really throw and really taught me a ton.

I was a sectional coordinator in the early 80's but didn't get very involved until I had this big idea about having a ranking system and setting up a whole tournament circuit around it. Like most players back then, I didn't think much of the UPA so I wasn't planning on taking this idea to them until I talked to Steve Mooney who told me "the UPA is just the players, you are the UPA, you should talk to them." There was no e-mail back then so communication was a fair amount of work but I followed Mooney's advice and talked to Troy Frever about it and was convinced the UPA wasn't the evil authority I imagined them to be. Later that year the first popular election for the board was announced and I threw my hat in the ring.

Twelve of us got elected that first year and to make the system work, 4 people had to take 3 year terms, another 4 had to take 2 year terms, and 4 people had to take 1 year terms. I was still skeptical of the whole thing, so I chose the 1 year term. When I was able to make real things happen including that original idea which became the Grand Prix series and now exists as the ranking system (done by someone completely different but exact same idea), I enjoyed it all so much I kept running and getting elected and still haven't gotten tired of it 13 years later.

The early years involved tons of really major decisions like taking Nationals from 10 to 16 teams per division, choosing to start a co-ed division, and choosing to start a youth program. Later years involved more crafting of who we are through policy but through all of it I've enjoyed defining and building what and who Ultimate is and I feel I've truly contributed to that and given voice to the players who elected me which is just really enjoyable and something I'll always fondly remember.