One of the world’s greatest conveniences was conceived amid its greatest hardships. Sylvan Goldman, son of immigrant pioneers, invented the shopping cart. His brilliantly simple idea was born in Oklahoma during global economic calamity and as the Great Plains were recovering from ecological disaster. “The simplest inventions are always the most fascinating,” Larry O’Dell, the...
Major John Griffith envisioned a nation made better, healthier and stronger — more powerful and patriotic — and forged by youthful competition that preached good citizenship. To this day, his legacy thrives on baseball fields across America and in the highest levels of intercollegiate competition. Griffith, a World War I veteran, inspired the creation of...
Fredric Arnold was a “reluctant warrior,” creative dynamo and decorated World War II combat pilot. He miraculously survived 50 missions of flying P-38 Lightning warplanes over North Africa and Europe. The death he witnessed and inflicted in war was in deep contrast with the mild-mannered child prodigy artist from Chicago who spent the rest of...
John Philip Holland’s brilliance transcended time, distance — and depth. Widely proclaimed “the father of the modern submarine,” Holland was born in Ireland and moved to the United States as a young man with the audacious idea of building a “submergible torpedo boat” that could fight silently beneath the waves. He succeeded in remaking maritime...
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is rolling through South Dakota for the 84th time this week. Credit local Indian Motorcycle dealer J.C. “Pappy” Hoel (1904-1989) for fathering what’s now the world’s premier celebration of motorcycles and an American way of life.The 10-day festival annually attracts more than 500,000 motorcycle enthusiasts from across the United States, and...
Fred Morrison launched a leisure lifestyle with his fantastic plastic flying saucer. His contribution to recreation all over the globe gained air only after he dodged death by piloting fighter-bombers in the skies over Europe in World War II. Morrison, a Southern California beach boy, first called his spinning discs Flyin’ Cake Pans and then...
Duke Kahanamoku was a real-life American aquaman. “The Father of Surfing” rode the pipeline of popularity he achieved as an Olympic champion to become the soft-spoken savior of Hawaiian heritage foretold in a king’s deathbed prophecy. “The ocean is my temple, the waves my prayers,” Kahanamoku reportedly said, one of many quotes that have helped...
Chef Joyce Chen wore many titles in a life worthy of a novel. Wartime survivor. Immigrant. Mother. Entrepreneur. Inventor. American. Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Chen most notably popularized Chinese food in the United States with her innovative Cambridge, Massachusetts, restaurants, cookbook, PBS cooking show, supermarket sauces and oils and patented cookware and...
You might say Tito Puente was born to connect cultures. Puente, after all, is the Spanish word for bridge. The New York City native, born to parents from Puerto Rico, found fame the world over as the Latin King, the Mambo King or, simply, El Rey — the King, in Spanish. His story is all...
Peter Moore made footwear an art form. Paired with a young sports star whose ascendancy defied gravity, Moore’s art inspired a pop-culture phenomenon. Moore designed the original Air Jordan sneakers. They were first worn by Chicago Bulls rookie basketball star Michael Jordan in 1984 and then released to the public before the end of the...
