Groups:HOF/2009
Footbag Hall of Fame: 2009 Inductees
76. Jack Lentz
Jack Lentz
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- Started kicking in 1984.
- Your own personal comments and notes?
- Attended at least 100 tournaments or jams (In New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan. Illinois, Florida, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Ontario, Quebec, Cech Republic, and at least 11 different sights in Pennsylvania). Instrumental in getting Rob McCloskey, “Flash Gordon” Bevier, and Dan Greer into the game
- Major achievements?
- 2008 Worlds Intermediate doubles net Champion.
- 2004 Worlds Intermediate doubles net Champion.
- Sponsor and an ongoing footbag promoter through instruction, play and competition of the Funtastic and other East Coast footbag events since 1980’s
- The sports future?
- When did you see your first Footbag?
77. Daryl Genz
Daryl Genz
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- Your own personal comments and notes?
- Major achievements?
- Owner and founder of Freedom Footbags which has sponsored tournaments in most every part of the world
- four-time world champion in Open Doubles Freestyle
- The sports future?
78. Jane Jones-Zerbe
Jane Jones-Zerbe
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- I got my first Hacky Sack when I was in the 4th grade (1984). Lavender and fluorescent pink, it was an Easter gift from my mom. My brother and I would try to kick at 3 times in a row. My next footbag was a sweet rasta colored Sipa Sipa from a Dead Show at the Shoreline Amphitheater in 1990. I still have that one, it is probably the best crocheted bag in existence. Senior year of high school, 1991/2, Michael McCarthy, a boyfriend that became an avid net player, discovered net from a couple of Microsoft employees. He got the WFA catalog and ordered all of the gear, that summer was my first exposure to net and freestyle. I left WA to attend University of Colorado at Boulder. Michael sent me an 8-panel suede ‘Zeno’ bag made by a guy in Santa Cruz. I practiced relentlessly to learn the two tricks I had seen, heel stall and around-the-world. I spent the following summer in CA where I attended my first footbag tournament, 1993 Western Regionals. There, I competed at novice net and met some freestylers that taught me legover. Steve Goldberg presented me with a novice scholarship of some kind that would have covered any entry fees for Worlds that year. This was very encouraging! Anyway, I had seen Daryl Genz, Dave Leberknight and Peter Kinny shredding on campus my first year in Boulder. I recognized that they were high level players and had been intimidated to approach them. I observed from a distance for more than a year. Finally a friend told Peter I was obsessed with footbag and he managed to get his number to me. When I showed up to kick with them for the first time, they handed me a copy of ‘Tricks of the Trade’ . This revolutionized my game and is when I began to feel part of the wonderful footbag community that continues to thrive.
- When did you see your first Footbag?
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- Your own personal comments and notes?
- Footbag has been influential on many aspects of my life. There was a time when I ate, slept and breathed footbag. It was all I could think about and talk about for many years. It has been 25 years since I became acquainted with footbag and I am still playing and talking about it! It is impossible to visualize any paths my life may have taken without footbag; I can not imagine any other path as colorful as the one I have chosen. Footbag has brought adventure, friendship, love, a wonderful husband and 2 beautiful daughters to my life.
- Major achievements?
- 1999 Western Regionals – 1st Place Women Singles Freestyle
- 2000 European Championships – 1st Place Women Singles Freestyle
- 2000 World Championships – 2nd Place Mixed Doubles Freestyle
- 2000 World Championships – 3rd Place Women Singles Freestyle
- 2003 World Championships – BAP Honorable Mention
- 2003 World Championships – 3rd Place Women Singles Freestyle
- 2003 World Championships – 3rd Place Mixed Doubles Freestyle
- 2003 World Championships – 3rd Place Women Shred 30
- 2003 Colorado Shred Symposium 4 (CSS4) – 1st Place Women Shred 30
- Created Shreditas.com, a website solely dedicated to women footbag. Also now a term commonly used when referring to female freestylers
- Toured and promoted footbag and other alternative sports and sold footbags at K-12 school assemblies as well as some other special institutions while sponsored by Infinity Toys
- Co-founder of the Seattle Rain City Shred freestyle club
- Your own personal comments and notes?
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- The sports future?
- I think it is too soon to say, however, I do not foresee it ever becoming mainstream. It still seems like the sport is in constant flux.
- The sports future?
79. Steve Smith
Steve Smith
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- I got my first 2 panel hacky sack in 6th grade for Christmas from my sister. I was terrible. I could not kick it more than once. So I tried my knees. Knee shank toe, wow 2 kicks. Typical soccer player knee and toe. I had to take my shoes off to be fast enough to knee it more than once. I gave up and set it aside for 2 years until I went on a retreat. The Retreat team kicked in a circle on breaks and meals. I found it much easier to kick it to someone else than to myself and I was hooked. I eventually joined the retreat team and hacked a lot.
- Your own personal comments and notes?
- I loved to kick so much that my license plates were hacky10. I got the nickname Hacky from a boss who put it on my work uniform. Funny that all my footbag friends know me as Steve and every one I’ve worked with over 20 years calls me Hacky. I don’t respond to Steve because of all the Steve’s I’ve worked with but I instantly respond to Hacky. It’s amazing how footbag has changed my life. From the first time I kicked in a circle it led me down a path that has been wonderful. I have met the most amazing footbaggers from all over, and more people through footbag than any other area of my life. Footbag has led me to the most important things in my life, my faith, my wife and my friends plus a few minutes of fame. Thank you to all the tournament directors who volunteer their time for the sport we love. I am honored to be included in the hall of fame. I never could have achieved this honor with out the practice and friendship of all the dedicated net players in my area. So I thank: Ted Martin, Andy Linder, PT Lavern, Mark and Mike Voightman, Cory Current, Scot Hansen, Chris Young, Mike Bellmen, Aaron Dean, Bryan Nelson, Mike Toner, Mark Zimmermen, Larry Doyle, Ryan Tamblyn, Brad and Alex Smith, Greg Grandy, John Keirsin, Tom Whitworth, Flash Kingsley, Scott Davidson, Matt O’dell, John and Marie Elsner, my wife Juli, and anyone else I kicked with. Thank You to Bob Cleveland who I played my first game of footbag net with, and Al Kohling for my first copy of Footbag World. I’ll always have a special place for my retreat team friends (Tony Buchanan, Scotty Kalina, Peg and Morey Washington, Cricket Blassage, Mark and Matt Trotter, the Calgaro sisters, Chris Wiekert, Bob and Al) who kicked in Virgil, IL the beginning of a hall of fame career. The best part about footbag is going to tournaments. Some of my best memories have been there. Like seeing disc golf for the first time in Ann Arbor MI, those guts players made footbag dash seem like a good idea. My favorite were Texas and Fogles the smaller tournaments gave me a chance to get to know the other kickers from that area. It was nice when Illinose had 3 or 4 a year, I loved traveling downstate to Carbondale to kick with the Chaos Club. PT could motavate like no one else. His enthuseasum for net was contagous. The first time I met PT I tried to get him to play indoor golf but all he wanted to do was play more net.
- When did you see your first Footbag?
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- Major achievements?
- 1990-2001 – directed 11 tournaments
- Competed in about 90 tournaments, including 10 consecutive worlds tournaments.
- 3 golf titles(1996,1998,1999) with 3 tournaments placing second in golf (1994,1995,1997)
- Several 3rd places in 5 minute timed.
- 2001 Mike Marshall award
- 33 1st places in singles and doubles net tournaments
- The sports future?
- Major achievements?
80. Carol Wedemeyer
Carol ‘SheBlade’ Wedemeyer
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- On the subject of deep roots, I met a guy in Michigan, Brian Hayes of the flying aces. He worked with Greg and Jay. Even preceded them I believe.(or at least older) Really nice guy….I was considering the practice involved in becoming an ace and endless hours of freestyle disc. He invited me to check out a school show to see the aces in action. So I went, and the show was awesome. I had not expected to see footbag – but there it was! It really blew my mind. Jay Moldenhauer was shooting hoops with footbags form the free through line ON THE TAIL ENDS OF A PENGULUMS!!! I could not stop thinking about this for a long time. There was no video back then and the only way to learn what they knew was tailgating…which seemed it would take a strange mix of humility and pretense. Different place different time,.. it was actually 10 plus years later when I actually learned toe stall and around the world. Still no web access…and I didn’t know about tricks of the trade if it was out yet…so I was back to that scary and excited feeling that I was going to go learn from the pros. What a surprise I was in for, to meet the friends that have now become family.
- Your own personal comments and notes?
- Hall of Fame, wow!…What an honor. Funny the way things evolve. First it was an around the world. I will not forget my first. Then mirage. The osis was blood… like giving blood. Then it was just under my skin.
- When did you see your first Footbag?
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- Major achievements?
- 7 Singles Women’s Freestyle Worlds Championships including 6 in a row
- 1995 Women’s Doubles Freestyle with Lisa Monti Vu
- 1996 Mixed Freestyle with Eric Wulff
- First women to be inducted into the Big Add Posse
- 1998 Open Freestyle Championship (Funtastik Open Singles Freestyle Championship), which was her 1st no drop routine. In so doing, she defeated many of the world’s top men of the time, including the current world champion. It was a landmark moment in all of footbag.
- A craftsman of one of the premier freestyle footbags of her time. The CarolBag was used by many of the best in the World including several World Champions and is still sought after today.
- Major achievements?
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- The sports future?
81. Justin Sexton
Justin Sexton
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- When did you see your first Footbag?
- Your own personal comments and notes?
- Major achievements?
- Co-founded and led the Finnish Footbag Association, one of the first organized footbag associations in Europe
- 2005 Director of the IFPA World Footbag Championships in Helsinki
- Mike Marshall Award winner
- Served on the European Footbag Committee, the International Footbag Committee
- The sports future?
