Draft:David W. Crain

David Crain

David Crain (born 1946) is an American engineer and business strategist in the electronics and construction industries. He is the creator and inventor of what is commonly known as the "1st  and Ten" graphical overlay system          used in sports television broadcasts.

Early Life

Crain was born and raised in California's San Gabriel Valley. He graduated from Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead, CA. According to Crain, his technical interests started at age 14 when he was given a Physics set that contained an optical bench, parts for simple dc circuits, and parts to make an electric motor.

Education

Crain earned a B.S. in Physics (1968), an M.S. in Materials Science (1971),  and Ph.D. in Materials Science (1976) all from University of Southern California (USC)  . His Ph.D. dissertation,  “Charge Motion in the Variable Threshold Memory Transistor,”   focused on flash memory transistor development nearly 30 years before commercial introduction of the technology.

Career

Crain’s professional career started in 1968 with the United States Naval Oceans System Command in San Diego, California where he was responsible for development of microelectronics for anti-submarine-warfare systems. It was there, while working on undersea television exploration technology, he conceived and received the first patent on what became “TV’s yellow line” also known as the “1st and Ten” concept described below. His focus on strategic planning began in 1976 with a move to Sempra Energy  as Director of Corporate Strategy. In 1996, he shifted his focus to the construction industry with a move to  Fluor Corporation as Director of Markets and Strategies. In 1999, Crain became president of the Association for Strategic Planning, an organization he founded along with Janice Laureen, Stan Abraham and Sumner Alpert. During his career he served as an adjunct professor and lecturer in Engineering and Business Strategy at several Southern California Universities. He also served as the Statewide Chair of the Industry Advisory Board for MESA, Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement, a California organization that provides campus-based tutoring, study halls, and classes for the benefit of historically disadvantaged college students.

1St and Ten Invention

Crain was awarded US Patent 4084184 “TV Object Locator and Image Identifier” on April 11, 1978. One use of the technology was to create on-field markings to allow TV viewers to identify the distance needed to achieve a first down in televised football games. It did so by inserting graphical elements on the field of play as if they were physically present. He presented the concept to Roone Arledge and Roger Goodman of ABC News and Sports and to Robert T. McKinley the CBS Technology Center. At the time, the broadcast industry was not ready to use Crain's invention. The invention was brought to market 20 years later and was introduced on ESPN football telecasts in 1998 when signal processing technology had the speed to keep up with insertion of dynamic objects in the field of view. It is now widely used in network sports broadcasts and the foundation technology for augmented reality (AR) video applications. Table 1 lists the top 30 patents that reference Crain’s original invention.

'''Table 1. Top 30 Inventions Citing Crain's Patent'''