I think Smileyy or Jim wrote most of this. Also look at the developing OMIT page.

The history of Oberlin Ultimate begins in 1833 when two young Yankee missionaries arrived at a stump-dotted Ohio clearing thirty-five miles southwest of the village of Cleveland. The Reverend John J. Shipherd and Philo P. Steward, inspired by the example of an Alsatian pastor, John Frederick Oberlin, resolved to found an Ultimate team on the Western frontier "to train handlers, longs and other players for the boundless most desolate playing fields in the West."

The two set up cones in a clear patch of land. Nearby in a pasture, a herd of Flying Horsecows and a pack of Praying Manti were co-existing peacefully. The Horsecows were munching on some frisbees that had landed nearby, and the Manti, of course, were devouring the males of their species. A crowd of people quickly gathered, discs were thrown, "Seven on the line!" was called, and Ultimate at Oberlin was born.

Ultimate has been played at Oberlin College for over 30 years. The first intercollegiate game Oberlin played was against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976. These days the men's team is known as the Flying Horsecows, the women's as the Preying Manti. In recent history, both teams have been in the upper echelon of the Central and Great Lakes Regions. The Horsecows have made trips to College Nationals in 1992, 1995, 1997, and 1999. The Manti qualified for Nationals for the first time in 1997. Every year in the first weekend of May, Oberlin hosts O.M.I.T., the Oberlin Mellow Invitational Tournament.

Degs is currently working on bringing the newspaper articles over from the old, Oberlin-hosted site, so stay tuned.

Gratitudes

The members of the 1998 Oberlin Ultimate teams wish to thank the long-ago alumni for starting Ultimate at Oberlin, the more recent alumni for their knowledge, skills, and more importantly, the willingness and patience to pass these along to us. We'd also like to thank the Mobil Corporation for not suing us, even though the Horsecows' logo is derived from a symbol of antiquity—the pegasus—not any Mobil-produced artwork. And Peter Washington is a lawyer now.

Web Page

This web page is the creation of Andrew "Smileyy" McCormick ('97), who begat Jim "Bob" Woodroffe ('99) who (after finally leaving) begat "Ultra" Nate "Callahan" Marsh ('02). A big shout-out to Scott "D.Q." Houghtailing ('99) who, according to Nate, also did a substantial amount of work on the webpage. Nate begat Degs in a not-for-children's-ears kind of deal at 94 Groveland. Degs begat Gabe who is going to graduate next year; hopefully he is begetting someone as we speak. The Oberlin-Ultimate.org site was created (paid for) by Smileyy and is maintained by the aforementioned Degs. Please send him photos, stories, legends of the Horsecow/Manti, etc...