IN THE BEGINNING

Though shrouded in the depths of time, some of our oldest players recall regular pick-up games in Van Saun in the summer of '75 both on the field we currently use and in one further south. "I got my licence that summer, and spent the summer polishing my car and playing ultimate"

OUR FORMER GRRREATNESS

By 1979, a core of Rutgers players had made things in Van Saun a lot more serious. Rutgers, by the way, was just ending a string of National Championships-see the Rutgers' history page for more info....At that point in time there was a loosely organized league called Summer Months Ultimate Teams (nice acronym). Bogota, Maywood and Franklin Lakes had teams and Park Ridge and Bergenfield tried to field teams which evaporated midway thru the summer as a too ambitious undertaking in a sport that was barely a decade old.

In the early 1980's, a number of folks with no college affiliation but in the prime of their Ultimate days formed a team named the "Clouds" that split time between the lit field at Rutgers and Van Saun. John Jakszta , Roger Grillo and Bill Gran from New Brunswick and Paul Teshima, John and Harry Dale and Dave Altana were on that early team. The 'Clouds' were relatively competitive in a time when colleges were the powerhouses and club teams were in their infancy. A few of the stars of the powerful Glassboro State team (Bones, Brat and Mike Butler) were also Bergen residents and played with the Clouds team of those summers. A few times, they hosted a NYC team called the Heifers in some seesaw, run and gun battles. The nucleus of the Heifers evolved over the years into the world champions, "New York, New York", famous for their skill and New York attitude.

During that time, when of the most competitive series was played between the Clouds and a team from Parsippany called the Hobbits. Afterwards, beer would flow strong and they often end up at someone's house for late nights for beer & other things. The friendship between the two teams was so strong that at one tournament, the 2 teams were to play the final game to decide the Champion. The Clouds (with a team of only 7 players) and the Hobbits were both too tired to want to play another game. In the spirit of the game, the winner was to be decided by selecting one player from each team to do a 30 yard dash, chug a bear, and then dash back. The Hobbits chose their beer expert, Quasar. In a surprise move, the Clouds went with tall and Paul Teshima. It was Paul, the fleeter of foot, who surprised all by downing the beer in record time and coasting home with the win. In the late 80's as the Clouds waned a number of the Van Saun regulars formed up with some of the players from the former powerhouse Knights of Nee who were cast off with the formation of the Gang. Practices for this team were occasionally held at Van Saun. This team made it to the Regionals each season where they imploded.

PICK UP AT VAN SAUN

As far as the actual practices at Van Saun back in the day, there were days when they played 4 on 4, then days where 3 or 4 teams of seven rotated into short games. More zone was played than man and the offense was very free flowing, concentrating on 2 or 3 handlers working the disc most of the time. They were often short of players and were constantly snatching new players as they jogged or bladed by. Paul Boddy brought his paperboys out to mentor. One such paper boy was Lee Shuler, who developed into a controlling force on the Paramus fields as well as in tournaments. Lee repaid his sport by developing Gil Hall from across the street (who still graces us with his presence).

In the day-Erol Kucukarslan (in red and still a regular) floats one to Dave Altana AKA"Creature" (yellow). Kurt Shuler (white) fight for disk. Paul Boddy, founder of our game, is behind Kurt. The trunks of both the trees and the players have grown.

As folks aged the Van Saun game evolved from practice to pickup-yet some folks who remember the dawn of time still play and many local college, league and club players join us, enjoying the spirit, exercise and surprisingly good grass. And with an infusion of school teachers we are now working on the next generation, many of whom weren't even born when the game here started.

This history thanks to Dave Altana aka "creature", with corrections by Steve Michelin, both of whom have been playing at Van Saun since '79. Photo thanks to Kurt Shuler. Please feel free to contact us with clarifications/improvements, photos or recollections.