The Bettys, the women's Ultimate Frisbee team at KU, were officially established in 1986 and have been breaking marks and breaking hearts ever since.

Here's the story from an original Betty:

"We started playing ultimate in 1981, but it was just very casual. There was a very informal male team around.

The first tournament I played in was in Topeka and we were the only team to have women (2). The guys always threw it to us in the endzone to score because no other team would think they should have to guard a woman.

Pretty soon after that, the men's ultimate team attracted more men and their girlfriends would come out to play also. We used to all play together and get real pissed off at the guys because they wouldn't throw it to us. That made us decide to play harder as opposed to give up (which they were trying to make us do).

I don't know the exact time frame, but there came a time in the mid 80's when women teams began to compete. We went to a number of tournaments under a hundred different names (UltraViolet, Quiche Lorraine, Grass Carp, just to name a few). One day, while trying to determine a permanent name for the team, one member, in exasperation, slammed down her beer and said "just name her Betty" (this was way before Bettys, you understand). It was just a name given, like Fred or Barney or Jane.

And that was that. It was as if we named the "Team" Betty and that team has taken on all sorts of identities throughout the years. I really remember that we were so desperate for female players; any woman that came into our midst would be overwhelmed with margaritas, dancing and nachos. We would have parties where we would practice our diving on the living room floors with beers. These ladies are still my best friends." -LB

Some of those identities include Betty Boop, Bettie Paige, red betty (like black betty), and old school bettys (slang for an attractive, confident, stylish woman).

For more information on The Bettys please visit their website at http://groups.ku.edu/~ultimate.