The Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers is another squad that has had some prominent athletes shine while members of ther organization. However, there's no denying that Junior Seau is the California-based football team's greatest athlete of all-time. Throughout the '90s you couldn't mention the San Diego Chargers without bringing up Junior Seau. He's one of the most passionate and knowledgable linebackers of his generation and had the ability to read an offense that would allow him to audible his defensive coordinator's play without causing a problem.
The Oceanside, California-bred, multifacted linebacker played his college ball at the University of Southern California where he earned All-American honors during his senior year in 1989. Seau would go on to be picked 5th overall in 1990 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers where he played thirteen seasons out of the twenty years of his NFL career. Seau led the Chargers to their last Super Bowl appearance in 1995 in Super Bowl XXIX. All twelve of Seau's Pro Bowl invites were when he was a member of a Chargers and the linebacker took home the trophy for Defensive Player of the Year in 1992. Unfortunately, Seau took his own life in 2012 after suffering from complications from CTE. Seau's death has sparked the conversation of player safety in the NFL.
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."