Question: What was the first FIRST competition you attended?

[Richard Wallace]

My introduction to FIRST came during a work related visit to Deka R&D in early January 1996. Dean Kamen convinced my boss that Emerson should sponsor a team, and I was standing at the right place to get the assignment. The next morning I was at the kickoff, and the next evening I was on a commercial flight home with two extra boxes of checked luggage -- the KOP. When I got back to St. Louis, my first task was to recruit a team!

My first FIRST competition was the 1996 Championship at Epcot, before teams had permanent numbers. We were called the Arch Rivals -- note the St. Louis theme. In the pits we were right next to another midwestern rookie team called the Baxter Bomb Squad. Their history is now storied, while ours ended after the 1997 season. Boy was it hot in that tent! And carrying the robot to and from the field made us really wish we had brought a cart!

After that I took four years off from FIRST, starting back again in late 2001 when the St. Louis regional was being organized. 931 was the first and only St. Louis area team in 2002. Now our area is up to 18 teams and still growing.