Jim Penske
Jim Penske began playing footbag in Idaho in 1999. He learned first from his brother, Boone, and together they dove into the freestyle footbag scene. His first tournament was in Pocatello, Idaho, where he met BAP member Daryl Genz, Sunny Freeman-Genz, and Bob Green. Jim was a fast learner; with his natural ankle crank, speed, and endurance, he quickly rose through the ranks as one of the next-generation players in the early 2000s.
Jim attended his first World Footbag Championships in 2001 where he was welcomed by the top professionals at the time, even having a starring part in director Eliott Piltz’s seminal footbag video Where the Ripwalk Ends. In 2002, he returned to the World Footbag Championships, again hosted in San Francisco, California. This time, he competed as a professional, and alongside fellow greats Vasek Klouda, Jan Weber, Ales Zelinka, and Bryan Fournier, was inducted into the Big Add Posse, a group of the greatest freestyle footbag players in the world. His BAP nickname was ‘Speed Racer’.
Jim competed in and won many events during the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. He won his first US Open Footbag Championships in 2007, and went on to win six more over the years. He placed second at the 2007 World Footbag Championships in Orlando, Florida, being edged out by reigning champion Vasek Klouda. Jim won his first Worlds title at the 2017 World Footbag Championships in Portland, Oregon, in the Request competition.
Penske (as of this writing, 2025) holds many freestyle footbag records, including;
-Guiltless record (all three ADD move combinations): 233 contacts, freestyle
-Tripless Record: 62 contacts, tied with Vasek Klouda, freestyle
-Fearless Record: 24 contact, non-repeating
-Beastly Record: 10 contacts, non-repeating
Jim has traveled for footbag all over the world and been featured in numerous videos, news features, and documentaries. He is considered one of the greatest freestyle footbag players of all time, and as of this writing, has had the longest career as a top player than any other footbag player. This run spanned nearly twenty five years.
In his later years in the sport, Jim began organizing various footbag events, including the US Open Footbag Championships. He has a youtube channel under his name that acts as his freestyle journal for his practice sessions. Jim has been sponsored by a number of companies over the years and performed for audiences of all sizes and ages. His primary schooling partner through much of his career was Lon Smith, another BAP member and Footbag Hall of Fame member.
Jim’s primary footbag club was the Boise Footclan, which at its height, consisted of himself, Lon Smith, Daryl Genz, Evan Gatesman, Nick Landes, Red Husted, Nathan Pipenberg, Bob Green, Sunny Freeman-Genz, Zeb Jackson, Zac Jackson, James Chance, and Greg Whener, among others.
Penske appeared in the documentary Freestyle: A Footbag Story by Elysium Films in 2024.
Jim Penske was also inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame in 2024.
Jim Penske video by Fourkast, 2015
Jim Penske
Born: 6/22/1985