Why FIRST is important...

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

Just found this article (it was on Digg today). Big in Japan

How many of you know that Dr. Murphy (the one who established the Woodie Flowers Award) is the son of a Nobel Laureate? Not as many as should know.

Joe J.

Great article, Joe!

Speaking of Joe and Dr. Murhpy ... I'd like to tell the rest of you of my #1 experience from the 2006 Championships:

After congratulating friends at Saturday's awards ceremony, I raced over to Centennial Park. I was fortuneate enough to have a VIP pass, and the main person I wanted to talk to* in the VIP tent was Dr. Murphy. He has not been to the Championships since 2003, and his presence has been sorely missed. I got my chance to speak with him, and we had a 15-20 minute conversation. Toward the end of our talk, I noticed Dr. Joe standing close by. At a break in our talk, I introduced Joe to Dr. Murphy, saying "Joe is one of my heroes in FIRST". It was pretty neat to be able to introduce one man that I admire very much to another who we both admire.

* It's been about 2 months since my 4 year-old daughter had laproscopic surgery to have her gall bladder removed. Dr. Murphy gave me some great insight about how that surgery was developed and described some history of various surgical and medical advancements through engineering. I only wish I had a tape recorder to recall all that he said. I thanked him for his part in helping make these advancements in order to help the doctors who made my daughter healthy.

Andy B.