Bart Starr's football career is reminiscent of something out of a classic sports movie. Starr led his team to the highest plateaus and succeeded at the highest level during an era of football that began every football player's lust for the Lombardi Trophy. Unfortunately, Starr passed away earlier this year due to health complications from a stroke he suffered back in 2014. While his physical form is no longer with us, he will forever be remembered for his impact on the field from fans and for his love as a father and husband by his loved ones. Starr played his collegiate football at the University of Alabama where he played the quarterback, safety, and punter positions and led the Crimson Tide to the 1953 Cotton Bowl. Unfortunately, Starr suffered a severe back injury from a hazing incident and the rest of his college football career remained uneventful.
In the 1956 NFL Draft, Bart Starr was selected 200th overall in the seventeenth round by the Green Bay Packers where he would play his entire sixteen-season NFL career. It wasn't until 1959 that Starr won the starting quarterback position thanks to then-new head coach, Vince Lombardi. As a starter, Starr would go on to lead the Packers to five NFL Championships including winning three consecutive championships from 1965 to 1967. The Packers were the only team to ever win three consecutive championships since the induction of the playoff system in 1933. Starr also led the Packers to championship wins in both Super Bowl I and II. In 1971, Starr retired with the second-best career passer rating at the time of 80.5.
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."