Dallas Clark, John Dutton, and Jay Novacek are some of the most notable NFL alumni from South Dakota, but the legendary kicker Adam Vinatieri has to hold the crown as the Mount Rushmore State's best NFL player to date. Vinatieri is also the second kicker to make our 50 greatest NFL player list from state to state. Vinatieri is responsible for making some of the most crucial field goals in NFL history and is arguably the greatest NFL placekicker of all-time. The future Hall of Fame kicker from Yankton, South Dakota began his college football in his home state at South Dakota State and later transferred to San Diego State where he holds the school's all-time leading points record with a total of 185.
After going undrafted in the 1996 NFL Draft, Vinatieri headed across the pond to play for the Amsterdam Admirals in the NFL Europe league. That same year, Vinatieri was signed by the New England Patriots where he played ten seasons. Vinatieri currently is on his 14th season with the Indianapolis Colts and the NFL's oldest active player at 46-years-old. Throughout his legendary and lengthy career, Vinatieri is a 4x Super Bowl Champion, holds the record for most Super Bowl wins by a kicker, the most field goals made with 585, and holds the NFL record for most points scored all-time with 2,612 points through the third week of this current NFL season. You can't front kickers are responsible for putting up major numbers and Vinatieri is living proof of that.
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."