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SEVIER COUNTY -- A Utah inventor who created one of the best-known objects of modern times has died.

Walter Fredrick Morrison invented the Frisbee in the 1940s. He sold the production and manufacturing rights to his "Pluto Platter" in 1957 to the Wham-O company. The plastic flying disc was later renamed the "Frisbee," with sales surpassing 200 million discs. It is now a staple at beaches and college campuses across the country and spawned sports like Frisbee golf and the team sport Ultimate.

Morrison never had a patent and never got rich, but Wham-O voluntarily paid him a modest royalty.

Morrison lived most of his life in the Richfield area. When KSL-TV reporter John Hollenhorst played Frisbee with Morrison for a report in 2007, Morrison said the popularity of his simple invention always amazed him.

"The whole thing's a wonderment!" he said. "I still shake my head. What have I done to deserve all this? This was not Einstein at work. I didn't add anything to aeronautical sciences by putting a curve on a cake pan."

Morrison co-wrote a book with Frisbee enthusiast and historian Phil Kennedy in 2001. Kennedy released a brief biography about Morrison on Thursday, wishing his late friend "smoooooth flights."

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