Elephant men

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The Elephant Men, also known as the E-Men, is the name adopted by the Tufts University Men's Ultimate Frisbee team. The team was one of the first collegiate ultimate frisbee teams in the world, and has remained competitive over the past three decades among the top tier of university teams in North America.

1 History
2 Titles and Finishes
- 2.1 Individual Awards
  - 2.1.1 Callahan MVP Nominees
3 External links
4 Categories

[edit] History

The E-Men were started as Tufts Varsity Frisbee in September 1972. At the time, there were only a few high school and college ultimate frisbee teams[1], mostly in New Jersey. The founders and first captains of the team were Jim Pistrang (Class of '76), Ed Summers ('76), and Mike Miller ('74). The first game was played in October of 1972 against Clark University.

The team played several exhibition games and tournaments per year. Some early rivals were Hampshire College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Clark, Rutgers University, and University of New Hampshire.

Tufts continued to play well through the early 1980s. While there was no college championship or playoffs series in this early stage of the sport, the team was often among the finalists and semifinalists in major tournaments (see below for more information on Titles and Finishes). In 1984, Craig Slater was instrumental in organizing the Ultimate Players Association (UPA) 1st Annual Frisbee College Nationals, held at Tufts.

The E-Men began an annual tradition of travelling to the South for Spring Break in 1988. The late '80s and early '90s saw a new wave of successful finishes at the Northeast Regional tournament, and one trip to the UPA College Championships. The mid-1990s saw a decline in the level of play, as the sport grew tremendously around them.

The team's prospects were resurrected in 1996 by the arrival of coach and alumnus ('90) Jeff "Dick" Brown, who would oversee continuing improvement in the team, as well as several trips to the UPA College Championships until his retirement after the 2004 season.

Currently, Tufts is coached by alumni Dan "Funboy" Forseter ('01) and Mike "Verbal" Bright ('02). It remains competitive in the New England Region of the UPA. The E-Men also retain a "farm" or B-team, known as the B-Men. This team is also composed of students of Tufts University, and competes in several tournaments a year as well as the UPA College Series.

[edit] Titles and Finishes

1983-84 - Attended and hosted first UPA College Nationals, 9th place finish
1988-89 - Attended UPA College Championships; 2nd at Northeast Regionals
1989-90 - 3rd place at Northeast Regionals (game-to-go); Winner of 1st Annual College Easterns
1993-94 - 3rd place at Northeast Regionals (game-to-go); Winner of Rutgers Queens Cup
1996-97 - 3rd place at Northeast Regionals (game-to-go)
1998-99 - Winner, Metro Boston Sectionals
1999-2000 - Finalist, Layout-Pigout (Haverford); Winner, Metro Boston Sectionals; 2nd place at New England Regionals; Attended UPA College Championship, 15th place finish
2000-01 - Winner, New England College Challenge; Winner, Rocky IV (Philadelphia); Semifinalist, Terminus (Atlanta); Winner, Metro Boston Sectionals; Winner, New England Regionals; Attended UPA College Championships, 16th place finish
2001-02 - Semifinalist, College Easterns (Wilmington, NC); Finalist, UMassacr; Finalist, Yale Cup; Finalist, Metro Boston Sectionals; Winner, New England Regionals; Quarterfinalist, UPA College Championships
2002-03 - Winners, Metro Boston Sectionals
2003-04 - 2nd place, New England Regionals; Attended UPA College Championships, 9th place finish (T)

[edit] Individual Awards

[edit] Callahan MVP Nominees

The Callahan is college ultimate's award for Most Valuable Player.

"The Callahan Award has been established to recognize the most valuable players in college ultimate. Each year a trophy is presented to the man and woman who combine superior athleticism with outstanding sportsmanship, leadership and dedication to the sport of ultimate.
In the eyes of his or her peers, the Callahan winner is the personification of the ideal ultimate player."[2]

1997 - Mark Lerman
1998 - ?
1999 - Dylan McPhetres
2000 - Seth Mann
2001 - David Rosenberg
2002 - Mike Zalisk - Won the 2002 Callahan Award
2003 - Simon Kates
2004 - Matt Abbrecht
2005 - John Korber
2006 - Rob Spies