Both Jermaine O'neal and Larry Nance hail from South Carolina but they don't have the story, personality, or accolades to deny that Kevin Garnett is the king of South Carolina professional basketball. Garnett was one of the most-feared and intense athletes the NBA has ever seen. His diverse ability to interrupt a play on the defensive end than create a play for his teammates or himself standing at 6'11 as a true power forward is something that we've never seen before and probably won't for quite some time.
Garnett was so gifted that he was drafted fifth overall directly out of high school by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1995 NBA Draft. This was the first time someone had been drafted directly out of high school in two decades. Garnett is one of four players to earn an NBA MVP Award (2004) and NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award (2008). The Mauldin, South Carolina-bred phenom is a 15x NBA All-Star, 4x All-NBA First Team honoree, and one-time NBA Champion (2008). While he did play for both the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, he was always a Timberwolf. Garnett closed out his playing days in Minnesota after the 2015-16 NBA season.
When we think of inventors, the image that comes to mind is usually that of a frazzled scientist toiling away in a lab, not celebrities pulled from the pages of Us Weekly. However, a number of well-known public figures hold patents for various innovations. Some are related to the work that made them famous, while others are offshoots of hobbies or just a single great idea.
Part of guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen's signature sound was his two-handed tapping technique, but letting all ten fingers fly while simultaneously holding up the guitar's neck could get a bit tricky. Van Halen came up with a novel way to get around this problem, though; he invented a support (top) that could flip out of the back of his axe's body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like "Eruption." While Van Halen was obviously interested in improving his guitar work, the patent application he filed in 1985 notes that the device would work with any stringed instrument. Want to tap out a scorching mandolin solo? Find someone selling Eddie's device.
It’s probably not surprising that James Cameron—who designed a submersible to take him to the deepest known part of the ocean—will often invent technology to make his films if what he needs doesn’t exist. He holds a number of patents, including US Patent No. 4996938, “apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment,” that he and his brother, Michael, created to film The Abyss and patented in 1989. The device is basically an underwater dolly equipped with propellers that makes it easy for a camera operator to maneuver in the water—and allowed Cameron to capture the shots he wanted for the 1989 film, part of which was filmed in an abandoned nuclear reactor.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes. She hasn't profited from her idea yet, though, since she refuses to license the patent until diaper companies make biodegradable products.
You know him as a rock legend, but Neil Young also loves trains—so much that he owns a stake in a model train manufacturing company and has an extensive collection. He also holds seven patents related to model trains, including Patent No. US5441223, "Model train controller using electromagnetic field between track and ground."