Tim Willis

In 1979, according to his induction tribute, Tim began running disc golf events and festivals that brought together Frisbee and footbag. Organizing became another way to participate in the sport he loved. He went on to cofound the Sarasota Sky Pilots, helping give local players a continuing organization, and the Fabulous Florida Tour, extending that work across the state. [1]

The club’s beginnings are especially telling. The tribute describes a Sarasota club that formed before it had a course. People first made a community around the game; the work of providing places and occasions to play followed. Tim repeatedly took responsibility for that work while crediting the strength of the membership for the club’s success. [1]

His national Hall of Fame profile also records his service as a PDGA State Coordinator. Club leadership, statewide coordination, and tournament direction connected the needs of individual players with the organizations that could serve them. [2]

The everyday work of a club

Contemporary publications show what service meant before and after Sarasota gained permanent baskets. In 1993, Tom Monroe praised Tim’s tournaments using portable targets near the Ringling Brothers Museum while noting that Sarasota still lacked a permanent pole-hole course. By Summer 1996, the Sky Pilots newsletter recorded the club’s adoption of North Water Tower Park and listed Tim as the volunteer adopting hole 3. Organizing play and taking responsibility for a small part of the course were both part of his contribution. [10, 11]

The Spring 1998 Flight Log makes that service tangible. Writing as club president, Tim discussed regular board meetings, clearer committee responsibilities, and course workdays. His course column sought help completing Lakeview’s basket installation and thanked volunteers improving Tower Park. The issue’s Springtime Open flyer names him as tournament director and allocates part of each entry to All Faiths Food Bank and the Sky Pilots’ basket fund. Competition, course improvement, and community giving appeared together in the same club publication. [4]

Tim explained the motivation in his own April 2000 Course Clips column. Remembering the early days at North Water Tower Park, he described the club clearing narrow fairways and removing palmetto stumps. Two recent workdays had added three pin positions. He also reported beginning a redesign of Lakeview toward an eighteen-hole layout, which he intended to bring to the Competition Committee for suggestions. These were proposals and improvements underway at the time, rather than claims that he completed every project alone. [12]

“What WE accomplish as a group makes me proud and keeps me coming back for more.” — Tim Willis, The Flight Log, April 2000. His words connect the enthusiasm of the young player with the commitment of the organizer: the shared achievement was a reason to return. [12]

By October 2000, The Flight Log listed Tim as secretary and as a member of the editorial staff alongside Connie Reddecliff. The change of role illustrates his willingness to serve where the club needed him. The 2022 tribute credits him with holding every elected board office at least twice, writing the newsletter, and continuing to help maintain the Florida tour. [1, 5]

That tribute also recalls a practical choice: to avoid a conflict with the club, Tim gave up personal disc sales while continuing to sell discs with the proceeds going to the club. His contribution included putting the organization’s interests ahead of an opportunity for personal income. [1]

Helping other people build

Tim’s influence also reached people developing their own place in the sport. Sun King Discs identifies his invitation to Michael Barnett to vend at Sarasota’s Springtime Open in early 2002 as an important milestone in the business’s history. The company credits that invitation with encouraging closer involvement with clubs and tournaments. It is a specific example of Tim opening a door and bringing another supporter into the community. [6]

His service extended beyond being the person in charge. The 2022 induction account describes years in which he ran as many as six tournaments and attended as many as twenty events to help other directors. Its plaque notes credit him with directing more than 200 Florida events and assisting at more than 200 others. Those are the Hall’s commemorative totals, rather than a newly audited event count, but they convey the sustained scale of the contribution being honored. [1, 3]