Every great team has an origin story. Before Nationals appearances, tournament wins, and decades of tradition, the HoosierMama?s were just a handful of players figuring it out—scraping together a roster, learning from tough losses, and building something bigger than themselves.
Let’s dive into how the Mama?s went from a ragtag group playing in Dunn Meadow to a Nationals-caliber program.
Back to Where it All Began...
The First Throw
Before the HoosierMama?s became a competitive ultimate team, they were just a scattered group looking for a game. Tim Anderson, one of the original players, remembers the moment ultimate pulled him in.
“I saw a 5-on-5 game in Dunn Meadow and immediately stopped my motorcycle to jump in. No one wore cleats, and it was pretty chaotic, but that was the start of it all.”
At the time, there wasn’t an official IU Ultimate team. Pick-up games popped up, but nothing lasted—until 1984, when a handful of students formally organized through IU Rec Sports.
That first group included Ken Ebbott, Jay Lustgarten, John Heichelbech, Bob Flynn, Dave Jones, and Robin Tener.
Woodlawn Field, likely Spring of `87, might be Spring `88. From left to right: Steve Cederbloom, (unknown player), Thad Tarpey, Jeff Behrends, Jason Shear, Mark Veldman
But the first true HoosierMama?s practice happened that fall. They didn’t have a set offense, didn’t have a system, and often barely had enough players to run a scrimmage. The game plan? Run hard, throw to someone wearing red, and hope for the best.
Despite the chaos, the team spirit was undeniable.
How the HoosierMama?s Got Their Name (and Their Look)
The name HoosierMama?s wasn’t carefully planned—it started as a joke between teammates that somehow stuck.
“We were throwing names around, and Ken Ebbott just said, ‘HoosierMama?’” John Heichelbech recalls. “It made us laugh, so we kept it.”
Once the name stuck, the team needed a logo and jerseys—but, true to Mama?s style, those came together in a way as unconventional as the team itself.
“That’s the same logo you all still wear today, nearly 40 years later, kind of makes my head hurt.”
The First Disc & The Legendary Typo
The first team disc was designed to feature the IU trident, but with a question mark instead of the “I.” Across the top, it read “HoosierMama?” and underneath was supposed to say “Illegitimate Ultimate.”
Except… it didn’t.
“No one caught it before we sent it in,” Bob Flynn says. “We misspelled it as ‘Illigitimate Ultimate’—and we printed the full batch.”
The typo became a part of Mama?s history—the perfect reflection of a team that wasn’t about looking polished but about playing with heart.
From Bob Flynn's person archive of OG Mama?s discs
Early Jerseys & The Birth of the Question Mark Logo
By 1986, the Mama?s were evolving. The first jerseys featured a simple, angular figure catching a disc, with ‘IU Ultimate’ below it
“I had no artistic ability, but I could use computers, so it was something I made there,” Flynn recalls.
It wasn’t flashy, but it gave the team a recognizable look for the first time.
But in 1987, something changed.
Bob Flynn’s girlfriend at the time (now wife), Yvonne Wittmann, was a Fine Arts student at IU. She had been coming to practices—even in the dead of winter when the team played in the field house.
One day, she sketched a new design...
That single mark captured everything about the HoosierMama?s identity—playful, unique, a little bit mysterious.
“That’s the same logo you all still wear today, nearly 40 years later,” Flynn says. “Kind of makes my head hurt.”
The team immediately put it on jerseys—but there was one problem.
People kept reading it too fast.
“They’d look at it and say ‘Hoosiermania" Flynn laughs. “Which, of course, made no sense with a question mark.”
To make it clearer, they simplified the jerseys. Some versions just had 'MAMA' on the front and a block question mark on the back.
But the logo’s impact reached even further.
Flynn took one of those gray ‘MAMA’ shirts abroad with him.
“Those letters, M-A-M-A, are the same in a lot of languages,” he says. “I got some pretty priceless looks in Russia and Eastern Europe wearing a shirt that said ‘MAMA’ on the front with a question mark on the back.”
A little piece of HoosierMama?s history made its way around the world
Bob Flynn throwing a flick wearing the simplified MAMA jersey while Eric Berg (seated), John Shipp, Thad Tarpey watch from the sideline.
The First Tournament: A Humbling Reality Check
In April 1985, the newly-formed HoosierMama’s traveled to St. Louis for their first real tournament. The excitement was high—until they saw the competition.
One of their first matchups? The St. Louis Tunas—1984 National Champions.
“They absolutely wrecked us,” Tim Anderson remembers. “I don’t think we won a single game all weekend.”
But the trip wasn’t a complete disaster. The team stayed in a literal mansion owned by Bob Flynn’s family—“Gone With the Wind staircase and all.” It was the first taste of what ultimate road trips would mean for team culture.
For one player, the tournament was an entirely new experience.
“That was my first tournament,” Rich Hollingsworth recalls.
Rich wasn’t even in college yet.
“I was a high school senior when I started playing with the Mama?s,” Hollingsworth says. “I played in a 3-team round robin in Dunn Meadow in October 1984, and that winter, they picked me up for practices at the fieldhouse.”
Another high school player, Dana Blumenthal, joined around the same time.
“Dana came out to that Mud Bowl round robin with me,” Hollingsworth adds. “I think he was a year or two younger.”
By Spring of ‘85, both were playing alongside IU students—a rare case of high schoolers competing at the college level.
“Yeah, we lost every game. But we had a team. And that meant something.”