Ryan Donohoe
Ryan Mulroney (now Ryan Donohoe) began playing footbag in Placentia, California, in 1996. Attending his first World Footbag Championships in 1996, he won Intermediate routines, catching the eye of many of the top freestylers at the time. Being fast and light with a soccer background, Ryan learned quickly, developing a sharp style that has rarely been mimicked. Schooling with the Southern California club that included Richard Abshire, Chad Devlahovich, Red Husted, Eric Windsor, and Bryan Fournier, he modeled his freestyle game off his icons, Peter Irish (the world champion at the time) and legendary player and past world champion Rick Reese. This created a fiery style that would end up dominating footbag in the late 90s and early 2000s. Many players were influenced by Ryan’s style, including future world champions Vasek Klouda and Jim Penske. Ryan’s gameplay is considered one of the best freestyle footbag styles of all time.
In 1997, Ryan was inducted into the Big Add Posse (BAP), a group of the best freestyle footbag players in the world. His fellow inductees that year were Chad Devlahovich, David Holton, Noah Dubreuil, Tu Vu, and Red Husted. His BAP nickname is ‘The Regulator’.
Ryan won his first World Footbag Championships in 2000, which he defended in 2001. The freestyle crown eventually moved to Vasek Klouda, who won the world title from Ryan in a close-fought and controversial decision in 2002. Aside from this, Ryan won numerous tournaments in his run at the top and helped shape tripless combos (all four ADD moves), pushing the technical level in his era. He was integral in defining ‘shuffle’ (linking many Stepping and double/triple dexterity moves), a main characteristic of the late 90s freestyle generation.
He traveled the world for footbag and was featured in many videos. In 1997, Ryan moved from the Los Angles area to Berkeley to attend school, as well as join the Bay Area Footbag League (BAFL), which was the largest footbag club in the world at the time. This era of BAFL included renown players such as Peter Irish, Eric Wulff, Carol Wedemeyer, Tim Kelly, Sam Conlon, Tuan Vu, Ahren Gehrman, Tu Vu, Sunil Jani, Lisa Monte, Lisa McDaniel, Dennis Jones, Red Husted, and many more.
Ryan influenced many players abroad as well. He traveled Europe a great deal, promoting the sport and inspiring the next generation who would rise up and dominate the 2000s. Many of these early Millennial players have noted Mulroney as a motivating factor that improved their own freestyle games.
In 2007, Ryan was highlighted in the film You Don’t Mess with the Zohan starring Adam Sandler. He plays Sandler’s double on the beach, where the character displays his footbag talent. He is also seen kicking a field goal in the fictitious footbag tournament midway through the film.
Mulroney was known as a fierce competitor, upping the stakes in tournaments during his time. This led to many exciting competitions that helped the sport grow in the late 90s and early 2000s. Ryan’s razor-sharp and relentless style made for dynamic routines, similar to Rick Reese’s explosive performances in the 80s and 90s. Strong under pressure, Ryan hit many dropless or near dropless routines, raising the bar for what could be done in the sport. He won many other freestyle events outside routines, including Shred 30 and Rippin’ Run. He also set some of the earliest freestyle records that later players built upon.
Ryan is one of the greatest freestyle footbag players of all time. For this, in 2017, he was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame at the World Footbag Championships in Portland, Oregon.
Ryan Mulroney video by Flipsider
Ryan Mulroney (Donohoe)
Picture by Pierre Frigon