David “Buzz” Ellsworth

I love all positions. As a rookie on the Condors, it was tough to break in on the handler set, so I was downfield a lot, but it wasn’t long before I wanted the disc all the time. I pretty much liked running the whole field. I loved playing against great players on defense and loved the fast-break turnovers. I loved getting up in the air to get the disc. In zone, I played some mid-mid, but I was pretty much always a deep and sometimes a wing.

I was the co-MVP at Nationals during college in 1986, along with Mike Nevins. I would pretty much do anything for my team. I was the captain in Santa Barbara in the late ’80s to 1990, and I won national titles in four divisions.

I was always ready to compete with anyone at any time. I loved the challenge of playing defense against the best players and loved running hard. I never wanted to come off the field.

In big games, I felt like I could be the difference in a team’s chances of winning or losing. I used to love long points because I could run hard forever and tire out my guy. I liked baiting throws and accelerating to get blocks.

As far as leadership roles, other than captaining, I had the energy to lift the team’s energy to a level necessary to win or stay in a game, whether that be through encouraging my teammates to believe we could win or leading by example by playing hard and having enthusiasm on the field. I loved to layout.

Usually I covered an impact player on the opposing team and handled the disc because I could get open a lot.

Probably the mid-80s to mid-2000s. I really feel like my consistency and skill level came together with my fitness and endurance level in the late 80s and 90s, but I feel like even when I went to the masters division, which was back and forth with the open division a few times, I could have gone either way division wise. After my peak years, I would try to make sure that I didn’t turn over the disc and played angles on defense that would hopefully rule out a thrower wanting to throw to my guy. I just played open in 2013 and got to regionals, played Bravo and some other good teams. Overall, I felt pretty good.

I was hired by Northfield Mt. Herman High School in 1985 to teach and coach ultimate. There, I taught ultimate gym classes and coached the varsity team. We lost to Stuyvesant in the high school finals in 1987.

Afterwards, I was hired by Cal Poly-SLO to teach ultimate classes in 1989. I also coached the Cal Poly ultimate team in 1989 and 1990. 

Director of the Denver/Boulder youth ultimate for 11 years. Our leagues went from strictly Denver with only 60 players to Denver and Boulder locations with over 200 players.

Coached YCC U-19 open for five years and coached U-16 boys in 2014. I manage the program with the leagues to be a launching pad for competitive players to tryout and travel to YCC.

I also teach Level I coaching workshops for USA Ultimate.

I was an impact player and played with and against the best (a lot of whom are in the HoF). I was lucky enough to play at a high level for a long period of time. I welcomed the sport of ultimate with all my heart and soul because it and the people involved welcomed me with all their heart and soul. I feel like I am a good ambassador of the sport and will always respectfully carry the memories and experiences I’ve had in the game.