Ken Shults

Kenny Shults is considered the greatest footbag player of all time.

The Michael Jordan of footbag, his run in the sport has lasted over forty years and five decades. Kenny began playing footbag in Oregon (the birthplace of footbag) in the late 1970s and quickly became obsessed with the sport. Attending tournaments at the time, he competed in both freestyle footbag and footbag net, catching the eye of the larger footbag scene. In his early days, Kenny was sponsored and promoted by John Stalberger, the co-creator of the sport. Still a kid, he would need to be driven to events to compete. Some of his earliest influences were John Stalberger and Jack Schoolcraft, the latter of which is considered the first star of freestyle footbag.

By the early 1980s, it was clear young Shults was the rising star of footbag. He won numerous tournaments in all footbag disciplines, oftentimes winning every event in the competitions he attended. By the mid-80s, Kenny was an unstoppable force in the sport, as well as the poster boy for footbag. He is noted as many people’s inspiration in footbag for his numerous achievements.

Aside from being a competitive powerhouse, Kenny was responsible for laying the foundation of modern freestyle that is still played today. This includes designing the ADD system, a point system assigned to individual tricks to rank their difficulty. He invented countless moves, including one of his most famous and difficult tricks; Big Apple Sauce. He developed many of the technical components of freestyle that set the tone for the sport. This included advancing stalls (catching the bag on the foot) and dexterities (circling the bag with your foot). He also advanced the games of footbag net and footbag golf, and made a lasting mark in consecutives footbag (how many times a player kicks a bag).

Big Apple Sauce performed by Kenny Shults

Kenny Shults won a wide range of tournaments during the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. He is a multiple-time World Champion in footbag freestyle, doubles freestyle, footbag net, and doubles footbag net. He held records in many events during the 70s and 80s. He holds more title wins than any other footbag player due to domination in multiple disciplines over the many years. Shults notably dedicated his winning routine to his friend Rippin’ Rick Reese at the 1994 World Footbag Championships in San Francisco, California.

In the early 90s, Kenny created the seminal freestyle footbag tutorial video Tricks of the Trade. He followed this in 2001 with Tricks of the Trade 2, which included many top freestylers at the time. He also starred in Raw Shred: Tales of the Big Add Posse, one of the earliest produced freestyle footbag videos by Paul Munger.

Kenny is married to Kendall Kic, another footbag legend and Hall of Fame member. They currently live in Portland, Oregon and continue to be involved in the local footbag scene there. Shults was part of multiple footbag clubs, most importantly the Sole Purpose Footbag Group out of Portland, Oregon, which was one of the largest footbag clubs in the world. Many well-known players were part of this group, including; John Stalberger, Garwin Bruce, Ted Huff, Kendall Kic, Tricia George, Paul Vorvick, Chris Siebert, Mag Hughes, Becca English (Eugene), Dennis Ross (Eugene), Robert Conover, Lori Jean Conover, Jack Schoolcraft (Eugene), Cheryl Hughes, and Heather Squires Thomas, to name a few. Later members would include BAP members Nick Landes, Red Husted, Scott Bevier, David Clavens, Brian McKenzie, and even later, Tuan Vu. Later member Chris Dean was instrumental in organizing freestyle for the 2017 World Footbag Championships in Portland. The footbag group in Oregon continues to today, and is considered the longest running footbag club in the world.

Shults was highlighted in a great many videos and articles for freestyle footbag, footbag net, and footbag consecutives. Many articles have been written about him, and he has been included in a number of documentaries, interviews, and TV shows. He appeared on various footbag merchandise and apparel throughout the decades. He went on to sponsor many players and events as well. Kenny’s freestyle partner the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s was iconic player Rick Reese, who would continue Shults’s legacy of advancing freestyle footbag.

In 1992, Kenny formed the Big Add Posse with fellow freestyle legends Rick Reese, Peter Irish, Tim Kelly, Dennis Jones, Dimitri Kavouras, and Joey Schaeffer. This group comprised the greatest footbag freestylers in the world. Each was given a nickname upon entering BAP; Kenny’s nickname was ‘The Enforcer’ due to his development and enforcement of the rules of freestyle footbag. The Big Add Posse would continue to grow in numbers as the generations went on. It has become an over-thirty year tradition to induct members that have achieved a high technical level or mastery of the sport of freestyle footbag. This tradition continues until today.

Shults was involved in various companies that helped spread the sport of footbag. He worked with fellow legends John Stalberger, Ted Huff, Garwin Bruce, Dan Roddick, Bruce Guettich, Greg Cortopassi, Peter Shunny, Randy Nelson, Scott Cleere, Yves Archambault, Tricia George, Paul Vorvick, and many, many more to further the sport over the years.

Kenny organized many footbag tournaments during his years in the sport, starting from the 80s to present day. This includes multiple World Footbag Championships and US Open Footbag Championships. As mentioned earlier, Shults helped form the rules and structure for many of these events that continue today.

Shults also organized many Big Add Posse inductions over the years, as well as Footbag Hall of Fame inductions. He also held ‘the Garland’, a prized title for rolling the highest score in Pass the Pigs, a longtime side game and honored tradition in the footbag community. He was eventually overcome by one Paul Vorvick, who achieved a higher score in a single roll, forcing Kenny to finally relinquish the coveted title.

Outside footbag, Kenny is also an avid golfer and photographer.

A few select players have been considered either the greatest freestyler or net player of all time, including Vasek Klouda for freestyle and Emmanuel Bouchard for net, but few players have claimed a mastery of both disciplines. Shults was the number one player and champion of all disciplines of footbag for many years, which in many people’s eyes has crowned him the title of overall greatest footbag player of all time. Not only was his run dominant in all disciplines, it also lasted a great amount of time. Though Kenny retired from freestyle competition after 1996, he continued to play for fun and to support the game. Though he retired from competing in freestyle, he continued to compete in footbag net for another thirty years, winning more tournaments along the way. This has further earned him the title of GOAT in footbag.

Kenny Shults was the first superstar in footbag and was known for his unwavering dedication to the sport. He has possibly the longest running footbag career of all time, competing from an early age in the 1970s to present day. He is the father of modern freestyle, a legacy that defined all the eras following him.

Kenny Shults - World Footbag Championships 1994 1st Place Routine. Cameo by Rippin’ Rick Reese

Kenny Shults