Longevity and finding his way bouncing around the league contributed to the legacy that Ron Jaworski left behind as one of the better quarterbacks the NFL has seen to date. While Jaworski may not have ever achieved the top accomplishment a pro-football player could achieve by earning the Lombardi Trophy, he did have a lengthy playing career which later led to broadcasting and the ownership of an arena football team. Growing up a three-sport athlete, Jaworski declined a contract offer from the St. Louis Cardinals in order to play collegiate football at Youngstown State University where he was selected to play in the Senior Bowl his final season with the Penguins.
In the 1973 NFL Draft, Jaworski was selected 37th overall in the second round by the Los Angeles Rams where he would end up playing third-string quarterback behind John Hadl and James Harris. In 1975, both quarterbacks suffered injuries that led to Jaworski becoming the starting quarterback and helped the Rams win a playoff game before he made his way to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977 where his most prominent playing years were spent. 1980, was Jaworski's best year as a quarterback, leading the Eagles to an 11-1 record, earning Pro Bowl honors, the NFC Player of the Year Award, Bell Bert Award, and a trip to Super Bowl XV. Unfortunately, the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-10 and years later Jaworski lost his starting job at quarterback. Throughout his seventeen-season NFL career, Jaworski also played for the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs until his retirement in 1990.
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."