06/07/2026
Before Tiger. Before MJ. There was Larry Stubbins.
Largely erased from the history books, Larry “Larry Stubbins” Stubbins is still regarded by disc golf historians as the greatest disc golfer of the 1970s.
Stubbins became the first professional disc golfer in history to sign a 3 figure endorsement deal with Schlitz Beer, a landmark agreement that changed sports marketing, and the game of disc golf, forever.
To understand how revolutionary this was, you have to understand the state of professional disc golf in the early 1970s.
At the time, the PDGA did not formally compensate its players.
The majority of the professional circuit consisted almost entirely of homeless men, drifters, and assorted vagrants who had discovered that repeatedly throwing an object across a field was legally distinct from loitering.
The average tournament purse at the time was just $11, funded almost entirely by loose change collected from the competitors themselves, two hot dogs, and 8 uninterrupted minutes inside a porta potty with a photo of the lowest scoring player's mother.
If a photograph wasn't available, competitors were expected to draw the player's mother fully n**e based entirely on how they imagined her.
This became the preferred m**hod of mother photo payment for tournament entry, largely because very few professional disc golfers actually possessed n**e photographs of their mothers, but all of them possessed an unreasonable amount of confidence in their ability to draw Tiddys.
By 1978, experts estimated that over 90% of all disc golf-related media in North America consisted entirely of n**e sketches of other disc golfers' mothers.
Then came Larry.
With Larry, disc golf wasn't just a way to avoid trespassing charges.
It was a real thing grown men chose to do with their time.
His rise began in 1972 at the Asbestos Open in Algona, Iowa, where he posted a commanding +14 to defeat a stacked field of nearly 7 other competitors.
The victory immediately established Stubbins as the face of the sport.
Often referred to as the "abusive stepfather of disc golf," Stubbins played a huge role in growing the sport.
He competed during disc golf's "primitive era", when equipment technology was severely limited. Most discs were constructed from crushed granite, rodent bones, and recycled military plastics.
During tournaments, he was seen drinking what he called his "Power Shake." Years later, he admitted the beverage consisted primarily of co***ne mixed with hose water.
Stubbins possessed unmatched throwing power. Using a violent, full body throwing motion he launched a record-setting drive in 1973 of 37 feet, a distance many believed impossible at the time.
Following his first major championship, reporters asked what motivated him to pursue greatness.
Standing shirtless, pockets stuffed with the n**e sketches of his defeated foe's mothers, Stubbins replied:
"Fame? Money? Women? I want none of those things. That's why I play the beautiful game."
Over the next several years, Stubbins won 3 more tournaments and briefly hosted a PBS instructional series titled "Flings with Larry", which was canceled midway through its first season after producers realized it was mostly just Larry drinking in a van and refusing to acknowledge the camera crew.
His most famous instructional video, "Dan's Mom", remains banned by the FCC.
Today, Larry is said to be living a quiet life in a converted van outside Tulsa... a life made considerably quieter by the fact that he tragically died to death 30 years ago after absorbing 53 bullets during a botched m**h lab raid.
Rest easy, Larry. The beautiful game remembers.
