A New Spin on Democracy : Frisbee Fanatic Scott (Chip) Bell Helped Stir Crowds in China in ’87 to Emotional HighsDuring Rock Tour, Perhaps Earning a Niche in History

Pacing the living room of his Ventura home, Frisbee champion Scott (Chip) Bell is explaining how the pro-democracy movement in China was really a rock ‘n’ roll kind of thing. (To readers who might immediately question Bell’s qualifications to interpret history in that impenetrable land, he points out that he spent a month in China, learning the language well enough to say “Hello, how are you, beer please.”)

According to Bell, a 30-year-old expert in the art of spinning a Frisbee on a fingernail, it is no coincidence that the first student protests in China began at the same time aging surf rockers Jan and Dean were touring the country. And look who opened the show: the Frisbee team of “Chipper Bro Bell” and “Crazy John Brooks,” two party animals whose mission was to fire up the crowd.

Late in 1987, less than 18 months before Tian An Men Square made headlines, Bell and Brooks were part of the first rock tour allowed inside China by the Communist government--which was under pressure from students to open the country to Western pop culture.

It took only one concert for the pols to realize they should have invited the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In Beijing, first stop on the six-city tour, the concert was attended by top government officials, who evidently were jolted by the subversive power of rock. Afterward, Jan and Dean were told to lower the energy level, cut the dancing girls, add a John Denver song and give more stage time to the Frisbee guys.

“I’m not making this up,” Bell says, rolling a Frisbee along his arm, around his neck and down his other arm.

Bell reports that crowds in the 25,000-seat stadiums didn’t know how to respond and were usually “sedate” until he and Brooks ran into the stands to stir them up, coaxing whole sections into singing along and pulling people to their feet to dance.

In a Shanghai stadium, something out of the ordinary happened. Did it alter the course of human events? Difficult to say, but Bell believes it might have been the flash point for the protests that grew into the pro-democracy movement. Running into the stands, Bell made eye contact with a young man, who needed no encouragement to leap from his seat and rock out with Bell.

“Nobody had done that before, but what was really weird, he was doing these John Travolta disco moves,” Bell says, going into a dance routine from “Saturday Night Fever.”

Bell was more surprised when the man was so swept away by the music that he lost his inhibitions and jumped on stage. The band loved it, of course, and let the man accompany them on the drums. Historians might argue, but at that moment, the journey to Tian An Men Square might have begun to the tune of “Dead Man’s Curve,” an ominous sign.

When the song ended, security dragged the man away. Evidently, his actions had offended some uptight party bigwigs. After the concert, Brooks saw the man being beaten. He and Bell learned that the man was the student president at the University of Shanghai. When he was jailed for three days, Bell says, students began protesting.

“And the rest is history,” says Bell, those portentous days of yesteryear frozen in his memory. “I never felt more like a Beatle,” he says. “After concerts, we’d be swarmed by screaming girls. Not that I was a somebody to them. They just wanted to touch democracy.”

Considering his small but possibly significant role in the pro-democracy movement, Bell is not surprised he has never been asked back to China--”or to a certain hotel in Shreveport, for that matter,” he says with a straight face.

For the last 12 years, the Frisbee has been a flying saucer transporting Bell all over the world. Since turning pro in 1980, he has traveled about a quarter-million miles, winning nine world freestyle championships along the way and even skateboarding on the Great Wall. Surviving on his wits and his talent for taming the Frisbee, Bell has collected a lot of memories--and very little cash.

Despite his titles, Bell made only $25,000 in his best year and has averaged only $12,000. Living with his wife, Kelly, and their two young children, he supplements his income by working as a groundskeeper for the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District and by designing disc golf courses in Japan.

With a loopy telegenic smile and a whimsical nature, the 6-foot-2 Bell would be a natural for TV commercials and endorsements if he played almost any sport except disc flying--pro horseshoe players probably make more money. As a spectator sport, disc flying hasn’t made an impact on the fan-o-meter in the United States, although it is supposed to be big in Europe and Japan, “which could care less about traditional sports,” Bell says.

Unlike surfing--another latecomer to the sports scene--disc flying has not attracted TV sponsorship, which would have boosted prize money. Part of the reason is that the media doesn’t know what to do with Frisbee. Is it a sport? Or just a novelty like back-yard badminton? Is the Frisbee itself a legitimate sporting object like a baseball? Or is it a toy? Do the results of disc competitions belong on the sports page or under community news?

To Bell, “It’s definitely a sport.” Actually, Frisbee has evolved into four sports--ultimate Frisbee, a team passing game like football; disc golf; double disc court, played two on a side with two Frisbees, and freestyle. The latter, Bell’s specialty, is similar to the Olympic sport of rhythmic gymnastics, which combines acrobatics and juggling in a choreographed routine set to music, with judges scoring on execution, presentation and difficulty.

“Freestyle is an expression of the self through dance and Frisbee,” Bell says. “You’re splashing your art on the canvas.”

Circumstances, like a need for money, often compel Bell to cross over into the entertainment field. Chipper Bro works amusement parks and opens for bands like Toto and Santana--once performing with Stevie Ray Vaughn before 60,000 college students on South Padre Island, Tex. These exhibitions might not endear him to tradition-bound sports editors, but they help pay the rent.

For Bell, one of the more humbling aspects of the sport is knowing that his chances for Frisbee fame and fortune would improve if he had four legs instead of two.

“I can do my hardest move,” Bell says sardonically, “and when I turn around to see (the spectators), they’re all looking at the Frisbee dog.”

Actually, about the only thing Bell can’t do is catch the disc in his teeth, although he can spin it in his mouth. With almost total mastery of the Frisbee, Bell is able to brush the disc to keep it airborne, roll it along his body as if it were on a track, and toss it to himself, catching it behind his back and between his legs.

“Chip is one of the (top) freestyle performers,” says Dave Schiller of La Jolla, himself a top player. “His game defines the state of the art, especially in degree of difficulty, flexibility and showmanship.”

Bell wasn’t born with a Frisbee in his crib. “I was always intrigued with Frisbees as a kid but I never really played,” says Bell, who grew up in Santa Barbara.

While he was a student at San Marcos High, Bell surfed and played varsity volleyball and ultimate Frisbee. At one time he toyed with the idea of turning pro in surfing and volleyball. But seeing a competitor spin the disc on a finger during an ultimate match, he says, “I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ” Bell also liked the sport’s camaraderie: “Frisbee was more of a family of people.”

Watching his first freestyle competition--the world championships at the Rose Bowl in 1980--he set a goal of making the finals in two years. Hitchhiking to competitions and practicing six days a week, eight hours a day, Bell made good, winning the 1982 world freestyle title in Santa Cruz.

Although he sees “age catching up” to him, Bell plans to be “the top (freestyle) player of the ‘90s.” He seems to be on his way. Teaming with Dave Murphy, he won the open division in the recent Saturn Fall Classic Flying Disc Championships in Ventura.

When Bell retires from freestyle competition, he wants to earn a living by designing and developing disc golf courses and playing the sport. His motto remains “have Frisbee, will travel.”

“I’ve done it all,” Bell says. “I call it my elevator world. I’ve gone from hitchhiking to (riding in) limousines.”