Chapter 5 - excerpt

The UPA confirmed the sport’s growth with the hiring of the first salaried executive director, Bob Byrne, in 1996. “I think the board's intent was to transform the UPA from a volunteer governing organization to more of a professional, corporate organization,” wrote Byrne recently. Byrne became heavily involved with fixing the administrative duties to which the UPA was beholden.

 Byrne’s UPA from 1996 to 1999 began to pay attention to media and communications, hiring writers and photographers to cover UPA Club and College Championships. A marketing manager was brought aboard in 1997, Frank DeFazio, to find ways of marketing Ultimate and securing sponsorships. In 1999, Jockey Inc. (makers of undergarments) sponsored the 1999 Club National Championships.

 The UPA had been ahead of the curve in information technology earlier in the decade. College teams in 1993 began to use e-mail and RSD to organize tournaments and their teams while UPA administrators such as Chuck Brunson and Sholom (Eric) Simon, developed the infrastructure to promote Ultimate across networks in the early 1990s, almost five years before the Internet boom. Simon’s College Top 25 rankings began in 1986 and were available on-line as early as 1989.

 In 1999, Simon, an original Columbia High School graduate considered by many to be the heart and soul of Ultimate’s spirit, finally hung up his UPA clipboard. That year the Collegiate Championship trophy was named in his honor.

 As Ultimate continued to grow, there was the potential lure of mainstream acceptance. RSD discussions in the mid-1990s suggested that the College Division could look to governance through an organization like the NCAA. Ultimately, the players never embraced selling out and the UPA has steadfastly remained a separate entity outside traditional United States sports structures.

 Joey Gray’s UPA from 2000 to 2002 further expanded Ultimate’s appeal while strengthening the base. After years of neglect, the UPA’s website was completely overhauled in 2001. Gray also restructured the UPA staff, hiring Will Deaver as the championship director in late 2000 and Kyle Weisbrod as the national youth director in 2002. Both positions brought much-needed accountability to the UPA.

 Deaver became responsible for ensuring that rosters for the Championship Series were properly accounted for and filed on schedule. “Previously, rosters were turned in at Sectionals, and there was little status-checking of members prior to the Series. It was anybody's guess how many people were actually participating and it was clear that we weren't getting dues from a lot of players,” remembered Deaver. Thanks in large part to Deaver and the switch in 2002 from a seasonal dues schedule to one based on the calendar year, the UPA membership numbers have steadily increased. Dues revenue in 2000 was $263,000 and in 2001, $388,000—a 45 percent increase. In 2005, the UPA was working with $1 million. Ultimate has become a serious investment.

 “The UPA has started treating itself and its members more professionally,” wrote Deaver in 2005. “While it's easy and fun in some ways to be loose and disorganized, there are huge benefits to being organized.”

 Gray re-invested dues money in infrastructure and continuing support for projects such as Innovation Grants and Spirit Awards. Dues money also helped bring in more staff members such as a media and marketing manager and a contract programmer. During his six years on the UPA board and two as board president, Jim Parinella redoubled efforts for the UPA to work with and serve the elite levels of the sport that were previously overlooked by a threadbare UPA.

 In 2003 the UPA went a step further in becoming a corporate organization, hiring a non-Ultimate player as ED for the first time. Sandie Hammerly, formerly an assistant executive director with the United States Field Hockey Association was given the reigns to the burgeoning UPA.

 “I think we’re becoming a real grown-up organization. We have enough money to push the sport forward. We could miss our goals, but I think that right now we have an ED who is responsive and a board that is responsive to the needs of the players,” said Board Member Mike Payne in 2005. “But we always have to remember that the goal is Ultimate, and not the UPA. Always push Ultimate.”