12 Things You Didn’t Know About Bill Nye, The Ultimate Guy

Tiina Booth sat down with Bill Nye The Science Guy to talk about his storied history playing ultimate frisbee.

I just returned from the 40thCornell Ultimate Reunion and was lucky to meet and interview Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill was a member of the first Cornell Buds, a team that was started by Jon Cohn of Maplewood, New Jersey in 1973. Jon graduated from Columbia High School and brought the sport he learned in the NJ parking lot to the Dust Bowl of Cornell’s University Halls. Bill learned all he could from Jon and eventually brought his talents west to Seattle.

1. He played Frisbee Football before Ultimate.

Bill grew up throwing a Pluto Platter (a really old disc withplanets in a ring around the center) with his older brother and played “Frisbee Football” when he was growing up in D.C. “I was comfortable throwing a disc around,” and when he saw Jon teaching the game, “I just wanted to be part of it. I understood it instantly.”

2. One of his fond memories is playing under the lights in Amherst.

Bill recalls the Cornell team playing on a lit field at UMass. “It was Halloween. The grass was damp and it was under the lights. It was just exciting to play at night. We are playing a professional sport, man, under the lights!”

3. He founded the Olympic Windjammers, the first men’s team in Seattle.

After graduation from Cornell, he took a job with Boeing in Everett, Washington. He joined