Eric Wulff

If you ever needed to provide an example of what athleticism looks like in footbag, look no further than the great Eric Wulff. Known for his chiseled physique and dynamic style that included many flyers, ducks, and spins, Eric helped advance freestyle footbag in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

Wulff began his footbag career in New Jersey in the mid-1980s. A gifted gymnast and athlete before footbag, he applied his athleticism to the sport with his high-flying and crowd-pleasing style. Eric is credited as one of the earliest proponents of the ‘ducking’ and ‘diving’ concepts (circling the footbag with your head). He also advanced flyers (jumping to kick the footbag) to the point he is considered to have the greatest flyers in footbag history. While flyers were a very early part of footbag (dating back to the early 1970s), by the 1980s, more tricks such as stalls and dexterities had entered the game. This was largely attributed to freestyle legends Kenny Shults and Rick Reese, among others. Alongside them, Eric helped develop technical freestyle, but never relented his pursuit to perfect flyers. This resulted in a style that mixed high-flying kicks with technical shred such as Ripwalks and Blurs. But let us not forget about his ducking moves, for which Wulff was miles ahead of his peers. He was also known for having a strong spinning game (turning 360 degrees when the footbag is in the air). With all of these elements combined, Eric’s style has never been replicated.

Wulff competed from the mid-80s to the early 2000s in freestyle, winning many tournaments along the way. In 1998, he won the World Footbag Championships in Montreal for freestyle routines. He was a highly successful double freestyle player, winning multiple World titles over the years. His doubles freestyle partner for many years was Tuan Vu, but he also performed with Peter Irish. One of his greatest contributions to the sport was team freestyle, which involved three players performing a routine at the same time. He was a member of the Ocean County Clippers, a three-man freestyle team in the late 1980s that consisted of himself, Russ Willi, and Ed Orlando. It was here that Eric displayed much of his athleticism he’d developed as a gymnast. This aided his amazing balance and form.

Aside from being a World Champion in both open freestyle and doubles freestyle, Eric also won many other footbag events throughout his career. This included the prestigious Funtastik Summer Classic and the East Coast Footbag Championships, to name a few. He consistently placed top 8 in the events he attended.

In 1995, Eric was inducted into the Big Add Posse, a group of the greatest freestyle footbag players in the world. His fellow inductees were Tuan Vu, Scott Davidson, Greg Nelson, Steve Kremer, Josh Casey, and Paul Munger. All would continue to have successful footbag careers through the 1990s. Eric’s BAP nickname was ‘Iron Man’ due to his shredded physique and endurance.

Eric moved to San Francisco, California in the mid-1990s to train with his peers as part of the iconic Bay Area Footbag League (BAFL), which included fellow professional-level players Peter Irish, Tim Kelly, Tuan Vu, Dennis Jones, Sunil Jani, Tu Vu, John Leys, Carol Wedemeyer, Sam Conlon, Dennis Jones, Lisa Monte, Lisa McDaniel, Ryan Mulroney, Josh Casey, Red Husted, Ahren Gehrman, Lon Smith, and many more. He was also a member of the First Family, a collection of top players who lived in the Bay Area.

Wulff appeared in many videos, articles, TV segments, and other media. He was one of the star players on the now-classic footbag video Raw Shred: Tales of the Big Add Posse by Paul Munger.

Aside from being a top freestyler, Eric also organized various footbag events over the years. He notably directed and helped run multiple World Footbag Championships, including in San Francisco in 2001 and 2002. These events were not only successes, but paved the way for the next generation of players including Vasek Klouda (first Worlds in 2002), Jan Weber (first Worlds in 2002), and Jim Penske (first Worlds in 2001), who would later go on to dominate the freestyle footbag scene.

Eric became an avid footbag net player in his later career, competing in both open and doubles net. His net partner was largely fellow Hall-of-Famer Tuan Vu.

Though Eric accomplished many successes in the sport, he has noted his proudest moment; the Funtastik Summer Classic in 1996. Eric and fellow footbag legends Rick Reese and Peter Irish were at the top of their games when they competed against one another at the event. Wulff and Reese had executed many great routines, but never gone dropless. Peter, on the other hand, had accomplished multiple dropless routines by that point. The order going into finals was Peter, Rick, and finally Eric. Knowing his opponents’ dynamic and risk-taking styles, as well as the fact they hadn’t gone dropless before, Irish performed a smartly executed dropless routine, putting the pressure on his opponents to either do the same, or fall to the second and third positions. Not to be outdone, Rick went out and hit his own dropless routine, the first in his career. After great applause, it was Eric’s turn. Seeing both his comrades had hit flawless routines, Eric gave the nod for his music to start; Where the Streets have No Name, a U2 song he’d spent hours editing for his performance. With the weight of both the preceding routines on his back, he executed his own dropless routine; another flawless performance. To date, this may have been the first three-dropless-routines in a row. The crowd went wild at this unprecedented show of skill. The tough decision then went to the judges to score. While this was occurring, Wulff, Reese, and Irish took a huddle and agreed they didn’t care who won; they’d all scored a victory and set a record that day. When the results were finally announced, the biggest veteran of the three, Rick Reese, took 1st place. Eric Wulff took a close 2nd, with Peter Irish right behind him in 3rd. It was an outstanding day in footbag and a step forward for performance standards. An interesting side note also occurred due to this event. Eric had let his routine music play for thirty seconds before walking out to perform. This was done to build up audience hype. The IFPA would go on to change the rules about when a routine started, partially due to this legendary build up. Following this event, going dropless became more standard as new-generation players like Ryan Mulroney, Vasek Klouda, and Jan Weber rose up. But for Eric, beyond all his other victories, the three dropless routines at Funtastik was his proudest moment in footbag.

Outside footbag, Eric was a weightlifter, surfer, and programmer.

In footbag net, Wulff won the respected Green Cup in the Bay Area with doubles net partner and fellow Hall-of-Famer John Leys.

Wulff was highly influential in the freestyle footbag scene, creating many footbag tricks such as Ripped Warrior (Stepping Ducking Butterfly) that are still popular today. He also inspired another all-time great; one Lon Skyler Smith, who carried on Eric’s legacy of flying, ducking, and spinning moves, albeit in his own distinct way.

Eric retired from competing in the 2000s, but unquestionably left his imprint on the game and how it is played today. Few footbag players have displayed the athleticism and determination that Eric did in his legendary run in the sport. For this and more, he was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame.

Ocean County Clippers performance, 1988

Eric Wulff
1998 World Footbag Champion