A “military town” because of its proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton obtained time shared access to the base’s computer system. Moses recalled participating in the first computer science class at Fairview High School, the summer before ninth grade. His parents encouraged his interests in science and technology through summer schools, encyclopedia sets, and model rockets. The second son of two high school administrators in Dayton, Ohio, Moses was “pretty much like Urkel” on the sitcom Family Matterss. Despite the title of his undergraduate degree, we can say, then, that he was an engineer in pursuit of biomechanical athletic excellence. From drawing on what he learned and read about biomechanics and systems engineering in the 1970s to his early adoption of digital monitors and personal computers in the 1980s, Moses drew on the knowledge and tools of engineering to make his work as efficient and productive as possible. now the Olympic champion and world record holder.” Over time, as Moses added to his laurels, he explained that the secret to his success lay largely in his approach to training. Americans watching the hurdles final in 1976 heard announcer Keith Jackson report that Moses hailed from tiny Morehouse College, where he was majoring in “math and physics.” Wrapping up the medal ceremony, ABC’s Jim McKay hailed Moses as “one of the brightest kids in the class, on an academic scholarship. What made Moses so dominant for so long? Part of the back story to his athletic success is his technical background. boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 prevented him from a likely third gold medal.) By then his streak and dominance–as well as his steady, logical, and persistent calls for drug testing and financial reform of track and field’s “amateur” status–earned him the honor of carrying the flag for the Americans at the opening ceremonies. The next year, Moses commenced an unparalleled winning streak of 122 races that lasted until 1987, during which he broke his world record three more times, down to 47.02, and won gold again at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. He appeared out of virtually nowhere at the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal in 1976, winning the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in a world record time of 47.64 seconds just three months after taking up the event in earnest. Left off these lists is Edwin Moses, who used his training in engineering and related disciplines to turn himself into one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century.Īsk sports fans of a certain age about Moses, and they’ll remember him as the dominant track and field star of the 1970s-1980s. When you come across a list of famous people who are engineers, it typically contains celebrities who started with an education in engineering but then switched to something completely different: think of Rowan Atkinson, Cindy Crawford, or Montel Williams.
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