Ethan Husted

27 Nov

Frederick Ethan Mason Husted began playing footbag in 1993 in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. He casually kicked with his friends in high school before learning freestyle tricks in college. The first footbag group he belonged to included fellow Hall of Famer Derrick Fogle, as well as Joe Marschall, Leonard Griswell, and Raleigh Green, among others.

Taking a deeper dive into the world of footbag, Ethan adopted the nickname ‘Red’, and moved to San Diego, California in 1995, joining the SoCal footbag scene that included future BAP members Richard Abshire, Ryan Mulroney, Chad Devlahovich, Eric Windsor, and Bryan Fournier. He based his style after one of his freestyle icons, BAP member Tim Kelly, who was known for mixing power and flair in his freestyle. Red went on to incorporate many Eggbeater moves and shuffle combinations into his game. His other footbag inspirations included Derrick Fogle, Peter Irish, Kenny Shults, Rick Reese, Eric Wulff, Tuan Vu, Carol Wedemeyer, and John Stalberger.

Husted practiced with the up-and-coming southern California club before moving to San Francisco where many of the current top players lived. This group was called BAFL (Bay Area Footbag League), and included such greats as Peter Irish, Tim Kelly, Eric Wulff, Carol Wedemeyer, Sam Conlon, Dennis Jones, Tu Vu, Tuan Vu, Sunil Jani, Lisa Monte, Lisa McDaniel, John Leys, and many more. Here he schooled with the pros and in 1997, attended his first World Footbag Championships in Portland, Oregon. At the end of the event, David Holton, Tu Vu, Ryan Mulroney, Chad Devlahovich, and Noah Dubreuil and Red Husted were inducted into the Big Add Posse (BAP), a group of the best freestyle footbag players in the world. His BAP nickname is Red ‘Shred’ Husted.

Red schooled with future world champion Ryan Mulroney in Berkeley until 1999 when he moved to Boulder, Colorado to finish college. The Boulder Blades footbag group was created, including fellow BAP members Eli Piltz, David Holton, Daryl Genz, John Schneider, Brian McKenzie, and the great Rippin’ Rick Reese out of Fort Collins. Other members included Sunny Freeman, Brad Kaplan, and Kyle Zender. The Colorado Shred Symposium tournament was created in 2000 and became a popular freestyle event. Red directed his first event with the 2002 Colorado Shred Symposium, entering the world of organizing. Over the years, he organized many BAP inductions and ceremonies. His generation of freestyle (the late 90s) is sometimes referred to as the ‘shuffle’ generation, meaning an emphasis was put on stepping combos and double/triple dexterity moves.

In 2000, Red executed the first quadruple-dexterity trick (circling the footbag four times) called Shooting Star, named for a meteor shower that had occurred recently.

Red was the Texas State Champion for freestyle routines in 2001 and won the triple trophies of freestyle routines, Shred 30, and Big Trick at the Eugene Freestyle Festival in 2003 in Oregon. His big tricks were Shooting Star, Stepping Backspinning Mirage, and Swirling Gyro Mirage.

After graduating college, he moved to Portland and joined the Sole Purpose Footbag Group, the longest-running and oldest footbag group in the world. This club included such legends as John Stalberger, Ted Huff, Garwin Bruce, Kenny Shults, Kendall Kic, Trisha George, Chris Siebert, Paul Vorvick, and many more. He began working with the sport’s creator, John Stalberger, and together they promoted footbag in the Northwest area. In 2005 they ran the Founder’s Cup/Northwest Fest footbag event, and a year later in 2006 he co-directed the US Open Footbag Championships, which included both freestyle footbag and footbag net. He went on to run six more US Opens as director while attending many World Footbag Championships. During his time in the sport, Red produced team jerseys for the Sole Purpose Footbag Group as well as team USA jerseys for players attending tournaments around the world.

In 2007 Red appeared in the movie You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, starring Adam Sandler. This was mainly footbag stunt work, filmed in Burbank and Cabo San Lucas. Also in this time, he helped run the 2007 World Footbag Championships in Orlando, Florida.

He produced many footbag videos in his Portland years, documenting the Sole Purpose Group. This included the rise of young new sensation Nick Landes. In 2004, he released Fourkast, his first and only footbag film, chronicling the best of North American freestyle at the time. Later members of Sole Purpose included BAP members David Clavens and Brian McKenzie. The group performed many school shows and events, and were highlighted in various articles and news segments over the years. Red launched the Fourkast website in 2009, promoting footbag players, videos, news, and equipment. The site ran until 2018.

After a decade in Portland, Red relocated to Boise, Idaho and joined the Boise Footclan, which included old friends Daryl Genz, Sunny Freeman-Genz, Jim Penske, and Zeb and Zac Jackson. At its height, the group grew to include Lon Smith, Nick Landes, Evan Gatesman, Nathan Pipenberg, Greg Whener, and James Chance. Boise became the central location for freestyle in North America during that time and hosted many US Open Footbag Championships.

Red helped run the 2017 World Footbag Championships in Portland, Oregon. He was awarded the Mike Marshall award at this event.

Outside of footbag, Ethan was a competitive fighting game player, enjoyed writing, illustrating, boxing, juggling, and chess.

In 2019, he was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame in Warsaw, Poland. He later directed the Hall of Fame for five years, from 2021-2025.

Red appeared in the book The Sport of Footbag by Allan and Stephanie Pettersen and the documentary Freestyle: A Footbag Story by Elysium Films, both in 2024.