Steve Slasor

Frisbee World’s 1977 coverage places him in the wider flying disc circuit as well. At the Florence, Alabama, Eastern National event, he won the golf competition and the distance contest, with a reported throw of 304 feet. In Tampa, he finished third in golf behind Jeff Watson and Peter Bloeme. These results show why his story belongs in a flying disc hall that embraces more than one discipline: golf developed alongside accuracy, distance and other field events, and Slasor competed across that shared culture. [9]

Rockledge and the rivalry with Jeff Watson

The Florida newsletters document a competitive scene built through repeated local encounters. At the Rockledge Pro-Am in 1983, Slasor beat Tim Willis by one stroke. The Revolutionary Flyer identified that tournament as Florida’s only PDGA event that year. Slasor also won Rockledge’s fifth-anniversary event, ahead of Gregg Hosfeld and Jeff Watson, and a later Rockledge tournament in which John David and Gary Bancroft followed him in the results. [10]

Watson was a recurring obstacle. In two Rockledge meetings during 1983, Watson defeated Slasor in playoffs; one ended with Watson’s winning putt on the twenty-second hole. At the state championship, Watson’s 186 edged Slasor’s 187, with Willis third. These close finishes give substance to the rivalry: Slasor’s Florida reputation was formed through repeated contests with the same exceptionally strong group, rather than through isolated victories. [10]

The competition also reached beyond Rockledge. At the Altamonte Springs Discmasters in 1983, a temporary nine-hole basket layout hosted an early Orlando tournament. Slasor won, followed by Hosfeld and Nick Hart. Such events brought established players into parks that did not yet have permanent courses and helped connect local communities into a statewide tournament culture. The same newsletter thanked Slasor, Bob Aviles, Willis, Hart and Steve Harrison for their assistance and dedication. [10]

Florida victories before the 1984 world title

Slasor opened 1984 with another close contest against Watson at the Loch Haven Open in Orlando. Tournament director Bret Segrest’s account described an eighteen-basket temporary course shaped by live oaks, mandatory routes and out-of-bounds areas. Slasor and Watson were tied after three rounds. Slasor ultimately finished at 208 to Watson’s 211; the report singled out his roller from the eighteenth tee during the decisive play. Nick Hart secured third in a playoff. [10]

At Coconut Grove’s David Kennedy Park later that season, Slasor and Hart tied at 205 on a layout combining nine permanent and nine temporary holes. Their playoff lasted two holes. Slasor made a twenty-foot putt; Hart’s longer attempt landed on top of the basket. Read together, these reports preserve more than a sequence of trophies. They show the kind of precision under pressure that helped define Slasor’s reputation, and the improvised tournament settings in which Florida disc golf developed. [10]

World champion in Rochester

At the 1984 World Championships in Rochester, New York, Slasor won the Masters division with a total of 244, ahead of Snapper Pierson at 250 and Tom Monroe at 252. He also finished seventh in Open. The Florida Hall’s induction account emphasizes the physical demands of competing in both divisions, describing four rounds in a day. His Masters victory and Open placing should be understood together: he competed successfully for an age-division title while remaining competitive against the leading Open field. [1, 5, 15]

The historical division is identified here as Masters, the name used in the official event record. Applying the present-day MP40 age definition to this 1984 competition would be misleading; the Hall citation records Slasor’s birth year as 1948. [2, 5]

Skill, temperament and the original Rockledge course

Slasor’s 1989 interview stressed understanding flight, carrying useful shot options and maintaining a calm competitive approach. He recalled developing his own short-range turbo approach in the late 1970s. That recollection describes his personal development of the shot, not a claim that he alone invented it. His international Hall citation later emphasized his throwing versatility, trick shots, sportsmanship and support for the PDGA. [2, 8]

Rockledge’s local publications preserve the evidence behind that reputation. In 1985, Slasor won the Thanksgiving Jamboree with 94, two strokes ahead of Willis. The newsletter’s player-average listing put him at 48.00, ahead of Hart at 48.33 and Tom Krajna at 49.33. That was a specific local statistical snapshot, not a national ranking, but it illustrates how closely the community followed consistency as well as individual wins. [12]

When the original Rockledge course closed in 1987, its retrospective newsletter credited Slasor with both the two-round and four-round course records. He won the final PDGA tournament there, a gathering reported to have drawn ninety competitors from twelve states, with John Andrews second and Hosfeld third. He also won the last Pro-Am, ahead of Andrews and Bob Lewis. Those closing results make him a central figure in the history of a course that anchored the early Florida scene. [11]

World doubles and a long Florida career

Slasor added world doubles championships to his singles title. In the 1988 Worlds Masters doubles competition, he and Tom Monroe totaled 84 to win. In the 1992 Masters doubles results, the official PDGA record lists Slasor and Glenn Dooner as the winning pair at 80, one stroke ahead of Snapper Pierson and Glenn Triemstra. The partner distinction matters: later biographical accounts sometimes associate Monroe with the 1992 title, but the event record names Dooner. [6–7]

His Florida results continued well beyond the original Rockledge era. The PDGA record lists Florida State victories in Open during 1985–1988 and Masters in 1994 and 2000. His winning record also spans Melbourne, Barnett Park and Orlando events, followed by Grandmasters victories at the Florida Masters Championships in 2011 and 2014. The categories changed, but the record documents sustained participation across several generations of Florida competition. [3]

Recognition in two halls

Slasor entered the international Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. Its citation celebrated both his competitive record and the character of his play, describing a versatile competitor admired for consistency and sportsmanship. In 2021, Florida’s new Hall selected Slasor and Ken Climo as its inaugural inductees. The pairing connected an early architect of the state’s competitive reputation with the player who later became its most widely recognized world champion. [1–2]

The Florida induction material and surviving commemorative artwork provide institutional evidence for Slasor’s place in that first class. They also supply objects through which the museum can tell his story: the award design, the finished commemorative disc, and eventually a photograph of the displayed plaque. These objects complement tournament records by documenting how Florida chose to remember and honor one of its pioneers. [1, 14, 16]