Disc Golf Legends: Tom McManus

This week we start with a bit of personal history. When I was a teen, I remember there being a disc golf course across the street from a friend’s house. We played once or twice, but I never really took it seriously. Fast forward to 2017; I had been in Illinois for less than a year, we had just bought a house, and I had no social life outside of my girlfriend (now wife) and family. On my daily commutes to and from work, I drove by a disc golf course. At the ripe old age of 43, I was looking for something healthy to do that wasn’t walking on a treadmill, and I thought disc golf would be a perfect fit. I bought a starter pack, went to Randall Oaks DGC, and that was that, I was immediately hooked. A couple weeks later I randomly ran into Birdbrain Disc Golf Club, and my passion was ignited. My only regret was that I didn’t stick to this wonderful game when I was first introduced to it in my teens.

The reason I mention all of this is to say that, while I have completely emersed myself into this lifestyle, there is so much history that I don’t know about. Over the last 5 years I have heard stories, and learned more about disc golf roots, but there’s still so much to understand. To that end, I’m going to occasionally share some history with you as I learn it.

During my time in Illinois, I kept hearing about this guy, Tom McManus, and eventually I met him in person. The man is a living legend! I was able to reach out to him to share a bit of his disc golf history. 

Tom was born in 1957 in Waukegan, IL and currently lives in Gurnee, IL. He’s been playing disc golf for longer than I’ve been alive! He says, “ Since about 1970, we would pick items and see how many throws it took to hit said item. A tree or a mailbox. We didn't track overall throws just had fun doing it.” 

As a disc golf pioneer, he has a unique insight about the early days of the game. He got his first frisbee as a birthday present, and never stopped throwing them. “It was a Professional Model Frisbee. I then moved on to the Master Frisbee and then the Super Pro”, Tom recalls. As new designs like the World Class Frisbees models 119, 141, and 165, he immediately had to have them. Tom says, “Like most guys my age who were into Frisbee, I joined the International Frisbee Association, and that led into getting the Frisbee World Magazine and joining the PDGA around 1979/1980.” For the record, Tom’s PDGA number is 1276. 

Tom has his own accolades too. “I was Lake County Frisbee Champion in 1979 and in 1980. I was the Northern Illinois University MTA Champion and the Speedflow Champion. I have always had Frisbees to play catch with, and bring them out after disc golf events when there is room and time allows”, Tom says. 

Something that I have always wondered about is what happened to the renaissance events. There was a time when a disc event would have many elements, not just disc golf. I asked Tom about why he think this part of the culture has faded away. Tom says they still exist, just not like they used to, and breaks it down for me. 

Regarding Freestyle, he says, “Freestyle is still super popular, more so in Europe than the US. The Ashley Whippet Museum is in Naperville Illinois, and the world Championships take place there every Labor Day Weekend in Naperville.” The Championships are directed by Tom Wehril, who also runs the museum. “It is a great event and super fun to attend”, he says. Many of us know who Julianna Korver is as a disc golfer, but she has also had a prolific career as a freestyler as well. 

I won’t get into any details here, but there is still a long standing tradition of the Canine Frisbee World Championships. I think I’ll save that for another blog. 

Now if there is another disc sport that rivals the popularity of disc golf and has survived the renaissance era, it has to be ultimate frisbee. There is a professional Ultimate team in Chicago, and there are a number of Ultimate Clubs in the Chicagoland area that get together to play on a weekly basis. Tom didn’t have much to say about Ultimate, but he did school me of another game that hasn’t really gone away, Guts. This game is basically a hybrid of chicken and dodgeball, where players from each team throw discs at the other team in an attempt to score. Tom says, “Guts is still going strong and even one of the newer players on tour is a former Guts World Champion that was on the Appleton Assassins, Alex Tews.” 

Another lesser known activity is MTA, or Maximum Time Aloft, “It’s a great disc sport that some of the current disc golfers on tour practice”, Tom informs me. While it is a fun and challenging discipline, Tom says it just doesn’t get the serious consideration it deserves. Tom says, “Brian Earhart and Ben Callaway are both really good at MTA.” It is safe to say that while the renaissance weekend format has been lost over time, the individual elements that made up those events are still alive and thriving. Thanks for the insight Tom!

When it comes to local affairs, Tom is still very much active in the community. He is an integral part of the Discontinuum Disc Golf Club in the Round Lake, IL area. The club, “Has been around for over 20 years and has led the way in getting a total redesign of Fairfield. The course is a Chuck Kennedy design, and is comprised of two outstanding courses. The club has also just recently donated six new baskets to Round Lake Park District, the last two were just installed this month”, he says. Also, Discontinuum bought two baskets that were from the original disc golf course in Illinois, Gillson Park in Wilmette. They are currently installed at Fairfield Park in Round Lake. In addition, he helps run a unique weekly Thursday morning sanctioned singles league, where members play one round in the morning for tags and if they choose, a PDGA round rating.

Tom is also a contributor for the Flying Disc Museum, “A strictly online museum which has over 30,000 unique images”, he says. He recently achieved the status of Master Contributor by providing over 500 images to the site. “I have currently contributed over 2700 images at this point”, he says. “I am also the Gallery Manager of the Innova, Discraft, and Trilogy Galleries,” Tom say. And he’s on the Board of Directors for the museum. He says, “There are too many wonderful items to list just one, but the Wham-O Super Pro section is my favorite. There is also a wonderful Disc Golf Tournament Gallery that has many great examples of discs from tournaments all over the country.”

I asked Tom about some of the biggest changes he’s as the game has grown over the years. He muses, “The main difference in play is the disc itself. Also baskets have gotten better over the years.” He also talked about how events were promoted before the internet. He recalls, “You would find out about events by word of mouth, local newsletters, or the disc golf publication at the time. And until just a few years ago, you could show up the day of the event with cash in hand and get into an event. Now events are filling up online within the first two minutes sign up starts.” Indeed the tournament side of things has experienced exponential growth. If you don’t have your alarm set and your computer online and ready to go, there’s a very good chance you won’t be playing in whatever tournament you’re interested in. 

So does Tom have other hobbies besides frisbee? He say, “I have collected Football and Baseball cards, and have some autographs of baseball, football, and hockey hall of famers.” I suppose once a collector, always a collector. 

In closing, Tom has the following message: “If you have UDisc, please use it every chance you get to track your rounds. People who are working to get courses into the ground can use that information to help to persuade park districts to add new courses.” 

Thank you Tom for being a driving force in the growth of this sport, not only in the formative years, but even now as disc golf is more popular than ever. 

Photo Credit: The Flying Disc Museum