Ellen Hagedoorn
Hi my name is Ellen Hagedoorn, I only played a half a season with the Condors (women) in the Spring of 1991. I am from Holland and played many years against the Condors women in Europe, before I came to the USA in '91. I am married to Dale Kimbal who was a Condors in the early years. We live in West-Linn, Oregon, close to Portland. I have played competitive frisbee here a couple of years with Shwa, after we moved here from Santa Barbara. I am a critical care nurse at Providence Portland Medical center. Dale and I have two sons; Niels (4) and Luuk (2) We are looking forward to seeing everybody in July.
Deana Kelly
I played with the Lady Condors in 1996 and 1997. They were the best years of my ultimate life! I now live in Miami, Florida with my husband Dave Kelly, who played with the men Condors in 1996. To my disbelief Miami had no women's ultimate team. So, I started my own team. Our first practice was only a week ago (June 1999) and I am very encouraged by the ambition and dedication that I already see from my 20 women roster team!
Cathy Lamoureux (Reimanis)
I played with the Condor Women's team since its inception in 1982 until 1990 when we moved to Germany. I was a German National Champion in Ultimate that year having picked up with a German womens team from Stuttgart. I played one year with the Burning Skirts in 1988 when we won Nationals; I was a co-captain of 4, Trish, Jackie, Andrea comprising the others. I will share one thing that never leaves my memory when I pick up the disc and play with others. Santa Barbara in the mid-80's and into the early 90's was, by far, the best spot on this planet to play Ultimate Frisbee. The guidance, perseverance, and motivation to develop into a skilled player were all present on Robb field, currently where the gymnasium is. The friendships on the field turned into pick-up games on off days when the season was lulled; jumps in the ocean to cool off led to bike rides up San Marcos pass, laughter and beers. These were my 20's and I could never have asked for a better experience with individuals as talented and unique as the women and men who played Ultimate Frisbee then.
Stephanie Mayer
What a treat it was to peruse the website, see photos, and relive all the blood, sweat and beers of SB Ultimate! It brought a ray of SB sunshine to this former Skirt/Condor stuck (temporarily) in Manhattan! Thank you, and please send a hello to Jason - I'm looking forward to seeing him at the Classic, hopefully.
Mary McDonald
I believe it was 1979 (I was a junior at UCSB) and I lived in Fountainbleu off-campus apartments right there across from Storke Field. I always saw Cliff Marhoefer in Isla Vista market and he was a "topic" among my girlfriends. I never knew he had anything to do with Frisbee. At the same time that year, I would see these guys and some gals on Storke field on a Saturday or Sunday morning... I really wanted to play! One day I got the guts up and walked up to one of the guys... it was Bart Merrill. He was the first Condor I ever met. We talked and he invited me to midnight golf at Garden Park in Santa Barbara........wow, what a night that was......
I think I was the first woman who went to UCSB that joined the Condors. I'll have to ask Michelle Pezzoli. I met her and Cindi Birch, Cindy Bourgy, Sue Bingham and others. We all played pick up and later in 1980/81 we started organizing ourselves. I quit after playing in '79, 80, 81,82, 82, 83... knee wipeout at UC Irvine.
Tricia Meyer (Guilfoyle)
I started playing Ultimate with Andrea Kelly when we moved into an IV household with Sean "Daddy" Greening. He made us sign up to be on his intramural team and taught us to play. It was pretty fun, but when we went to our first tournament - the Winter Crystal - in Feb. 1985, we were hooked! Since then, I haven't missed a season yet. I've been on teams that won College Nationals in 1988, Club Nationals in 1986, 87 and 89, and Worlds in 1988, 89 and 90. I'm still best friends with Andrea and each year our Condors team gets more fun. Looking forward to the reunion in July '99 and Worlds in Scotland in August. Being on the Condors has been, and continues to be a great experience, and a HUGE part of my life. In 1995 I married a boy Condor - Bob Guilfoyle - and we're living happily ever after.
Pattie Montgomery
I played on Burning Skirts before they were the Burning Skirts in the spring of 87. Back then our name changed with every tournament, from 'No Food in the Library' (thanks to T and A) to Kunaouichi (sp?). In 88 we became the Burning Skirts, and that year won college Nationals for the first time in one of the windiest games I have ever played in. If it had not been for a last minute up wind goal, the Davis Cats would have defeated us.
I played on Condors for the fall '87, 88 and 89 years. We won 1 National title my rookie year and 2 world championships. I met my husband Pete McCabe at the world club Ultimate Championships in Cologne Germany. He was playing on Loony Tunes from New Jersey. We met and fell in love and communicated for 5 months by phone and mail before he quit his job and moved to California to be with me.
Since then I have played on one of Condors biggest rivals, San Diego Safari, where i am still an active player. While Safari has never captured a national title, we are always in there fighting and have many times been a contender. We still battle it out with Condors on a semi regular basis.
Dana Mosher (Lewis)
Both Tom and I played 1980 - 1984, although I think Tom continued on for a few more years!! We met in 1979 at UCSB and both started out playing Intramurals in the fall of 1979. We both joined the Condors in 1980, and were actively involved in the team (i.e. that was our life!) for the next four years. We got married in 1981 (a classic frisbee wedding - frisbees and hackie sacks at Stowe Grove Park) and it is a great memory of those early years with the team. I stopped playing in 1985 to have our daughter, Michelle, and found that returning to high level competition after that with a daughter and a full time job (as well as a knee injury) was just too much. I must admit that it was bittersweet to watch the women's team go on to "greatness" in those years 1985 and beyond - I guess I have to be proud of the fact that I was a part of "the building years!" We moved to Portland in 1988 and played for a bit with the teams up here, but it never equaled the family feeling of the Condors.
It is exciting to me that someone is taking the time to document what was an essential part of my life!
Michele Pezzoli
I came to SB in 1976 from Sonoma County where I was already playing frisbee--mostly freestyle and other events---but also coed Ultimate. I came to SB in April to compete in the first overall competition for qualifying for the World Frisbee Championships at the Rose Bowl. The first people I met were TK and Tom Shepherd - who were putting on the tournament. I took a teaching job and moved here that August with my 7 year old daughter, Monique. From the beginning, although most of us who played did all of the events in those days, there was always Ultimate and in addition to our almost daily freestyle gatherings, we had those wonderful Sunday Ultimate games at Laguna Blanca. Myself and a few other women played consistently in the coed practices from that point until the UPA women's division was formed in 1981. That happened when Suzan Fields (Boston), Louie Mahoney (a woman from Boston) and myself met with the UPA directors in the swimming pool on a very hot day at the World Frisbee Championships at Irvine. That was August 1981. We told them that we thought the women players from around the country who like ourselves had been playing coed Ultimate for quite a while were ready to have women's teams and that we could make the contacts and get the five regions organized by Regionals of that year. In the two short months between that meeting and the Regionals in Oct.-Nov. 1981, women in all 5 regions pulled together teams ( I think 4-5 per region--I'm not sure) and competed in the first UPA Women's division. In SB we had no trouble pulling together a team. I called Sandy Ross who was playing with the Ducks and together we got the local women organized. With the Intramural program at UCSB and the more experienced Condor women, we had no trouble pulling together a team. I think we had 23-25 on the roster for the first Regionals! And , as they say -- the rest is history.
There are too many favorite moments in my long history with the Condors from the early freestyle/Ultimate days to the era of our National Championships. I will say that TK and I have commented so many times to each other after spending time with our many, many close Condors friends how lucky we are to have had all these experiences. I am truly grateful and it has been the greatest of fun.
Sandy Ross
Thanks for doing all this great work! Michele Pezzoli and I started the women's team in 1981 - that was the first year that women were "allowed" to play in the Nationals series. I can't remember everyone on the team, but Michele can help you with that since she has some old photos and rosters.
I played on the Condors from 1981-1987. Michele and I were co-captains throughout that time. Michele recruited me when after she persuaded the management that women should be included. I had been playing with a local SB pick-up team, the Ducks, since 1977. She and I, along with some other experienced players, taught a lot of young women how to play the game of ultimate. We were always a strong team and contenders, but for the first few years we could never get past Oregon's Dark Star in the Regionals. We finally did it in 1984, and went on to win the first of 3 National Championships (84 in SB, 85 in D.C., and 86 in Houston).
I still play ultimate once a week at work (Amgen, in TO). It's nice to know that the game is still enthusiastically embraced after all these years! I live in Ventura now, but I'm still very connected to all my old Condor friends in SB and elsewhere. Some of the core group include: Dana Lewis, Joanie Merrill, Deanne Martin, Kristin Battles, Julie Hirsch, Linda Akutagawa, then later Kelly Green and Ann Cohan joined us.
Suzanne Samuels (Konchan)
I joined the Lady Condors in Spring 1981, having just moved to Santa Barbara from San Diego. Some great friends down there had just started a team, and I was enjoying playing a new sport. When I moved to SB to transfer colleges, all I really knew about the area was it had a great Ultimate Frisbee team. I came to love Santa Barbara, and stayed until 1991.
I ended up spending three years living Frisbee nearly five days a week. I guess I wasn't the best player, but I enjoyed the challenge and made some really great friends. My trips to Eugene for Solstice and eating mud on the field in Santa Cruz stand out as among my best memories. I still throw the disc on the beach, trying to teach my 5 and 9 year olds how to play. If you check it out, it is the 1984 Lady Condor National Champions disc.
To this day I tell friends that in college I majored in Environmental Studies, and minored in Ultimate. My most memorable injury was when I broke my jaw at a tournament at UC Irvine by running into a teammate during warm ups. At least Joanie was a paramedic and could treat me after we collided! My husband Dave and I relocated to Florida from Aspen, Colorado where we lived for ten years. If anyone finds themselves in the Daytona/Flagler area, give me a call or send an e-mail. (386) 439-4050
Margaret Thomas
I currently play with the (lady) Condors team and am going to Worlds in Scotland this summer as we won a bid. I started playing with the Condors in August 1997 after the Los Angeles Fly Girls broke up. Four of the Fly Girls were welcomed onto the Condors (myself, Rachel Noble, Jill Van Wei, and Suzanne Doolan), and we were very grateful. I currently live in Los Angeles and drive to Santa Barbara every weekend during the fall season for practice. I love playing in Santa Barbara as it is a beautiful city. The lady Condors went to Nationals last year (1998) in Florida; they were last seen at Nationals in approximately 1993. Playing with the Condors has been one of the best experiences of my life!!! It is extra special as we have a men Condors team to support us as we support them with all our heart.
Tree Vandenberg
I'm a cpa & help poor frisbee players cheat on their tax returns.. I bought a house with my boyfriend, Michael in San Mateo. I'm into gardening, cooking & have an extensive wine collection. I play ultimate a few times a year at tournaments. I still run, bike, lift weights & golf. Planning a trip to Italy for 4-6 weeks in October '99.
Laura Wheeler
I played for the Condors for one season: 1993. I remember riding up with Sue Treon on the weekends from L.A. through the hot summers committing a lot of time to play with the "big girls." I broke my arm in late September laying out from some swill and had to watch the team lose in Regionals at San Diego. I live in Altadena, CA. with Jeff Landesman and our two kids. Played with the Fly Girls and Sugar, but after last Ultimate injury have no plans to get back into it.