15 YEARS OF FURIOUS GEORGE
I SAW FURIOUS GEORGE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2003. At the time, I was sitting in the bleachers
of Molson Stadium in Montreal, watching the national finals between Furious and a fairly nascent GOAT. I had learned the game only for the purposes of cross-train- ing (under more-or-less correct rules, and gratefully under the tutelage of people who could actually throw forehand) less than a year before, and I was a terribly green player. I very proudly played for Ottawa’s B-level mixed team “Juce” that summer (there’s no ‘I’ in ‘Juce’, was the explanation I was given, although I still find that argu- ment somewhat unsatisfying). I had no idea who Furious George was, but I knew someone who bragged that his team had scored all of six points against them, and from where I sat, I could see they pos- sessed one very tall, authoritative-looking fellow (Andrew Lugsdin) who appeared to me to strikingly resemble the Man-with- the-Yellow-Hat. I was utterly ignorant.
THEY DEFEATED GOAT 17-6. IT WAS THEIR SIXTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. For many Ultimate players, there exists some turning point around which we begin to take the game a little more seriously – that time when we begin to draw distinc- tions between merely “playing Ultimate” and becoming “Ultimate players.” In my mind, that tournament is my reference point, around which I orient myself in the local history of the game. I was very much a latecomer to this particular story. Furi- ous George was reaching the peak of their powerhouse decade, and the win I had just witnessed -- just another stepping stone toward their second world championship in 2004.
BY ALEX DAVIS
A look at the origins of one of Canada’s oldest and most storied Ultimate clubs
WHAT’S IN A NAME? The ballad of the Angry Monkey had begun nine years earlier, in Vancouver, when a somewhat older club (‘Vertigo/Ver- tigogh,’ formerly ‘Vangogh’) and a younger one (‘Evil Genius’) finally dissolved a local rivalry and agreed to amalgamate. In the early 90s, Ottawa’s WaX was the domi- nant Canadian force– unquestionably the team to beat. In 1994, Vertigo and Evil Genius trailed behind them with respec- tive 2nd-place and 4th-place showings at nationals. The following spring, friends and rivals met in tryouts with the goal of top- pling the reigning champions, and course they needed a new team name for that purpose. According to founding member Michael Kader, what followed “was a classic Ultimate team meeting, where there was a lot of drinking and not a lot of deciding.” The name ‘Furious George’ was suggested, but did not garner any special attention. Another strong contender was ‘Grover,’ for blurry, mysterious reasons. ‘Bonyguard’ was enthusiastically touted as an alterna- tive, “but I don’t think anyone really wanted it,” says Kader, “I think they just liked shout- ing it while drunk.” As it happens, captain and artist Khai Foo
did like ‘Furious George,’ and he arrived at the next practice with a draft for the team logo. “When he showed up with his little angry monkey logo, that’s when we knew,” Kader explains, “we were Furious George. It was decided.” Khai Foo’s iconic logo even- tually became one of the most recogniz- able images in Ultimate: a mainstay of early Ultivillage DVDs, and the flagship for sport-specific clothing supplier GAIA. It turned the name of ‘Furious George’ from a tongue-in-cheek, drunken joke into a bonafide brand name.
Ultimate Canada Magazine —
www.canadianultimate.com
EARLY COMPETITION Over the following two years, the newly
forged west coast club quickly gained mo- mentum, picking up the next two national titles, and a fifth-place finish for Canada at the 1996 world championships in Sweden. “It was the youth of Evil Genius combined with the veteran experience from Vertigo that sparked Furious’ rise back to winning Canadian Nationals,” remarks Kirk Savage (formerly of Evil Genius and Altar Boys, and a founding member of Furious George). Winning CUCs at the time “was a huge deal to everyone on the team.” In 1997, Andrew Lugsdin fully committed
himself to Furious. A commanding vet- eran from WaX, he had freshly resettled in Vancouver in 1995, and had dabbled previ- ously with Furious and also in the U.S. with Sockeye (of Seattle). After joining Furious for their trip to Sweden, he returned to their roster for the full ‘97 season. He was almost instantly cemented as the team leader – a role he would keep for most of the next thirteen years. The Monkey enjoyed a breakout season, winning their third na- tional title, and a surprise bronze-medal fin- ish in the 1997 World Ultimate Club Cham- pionships, hosted in their own hometown.
THE NOMADS AND THE ALTAR BOYS By then, Lugsdin (Wax), Cruickshank (Evil
Genius), Savage (Evil Genius/Altar Boys), Nichols (Vertigo) carried growing pres- ence in the Ultimate world, and they were on track toward great things. Nevertheless, there were still two other clubs in their orbit that would strongly influence the rising Monkey and forge the legend: the Nomads and the Altar Boys (aka ‘Alter Boyz/Alter- boyz,’ depending on whom you ask). Natu- rally, both also represented Canada in 1997, finishing 17th and 15th, respectively.
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49