William C. Eddy
William Crawford Eddy (August 22, 1902 – September 15, 1989) was an American naval officer, submariner, engineer, television producer, educator, cartoonist, artist, inventor, entrepreneur, explorer and writer.
With minimal hearing capability, he passed the physical examination by "reading lips," then kept this deficiency hidden throughout his years at the academy and during his initial military service.
He was initially sent to Nicaragua to "fight the Banana Wars," then dispatched to China to protect American interests and "show the flag" along the Yangtze River.
When Eddy learned that the Navy needed a suitable badge for the submarine service, being a talented artist he designed the "Dolphins" insignia; this was adopted and is still proudly worn by eligible personnel.
In early 1935, Eddy joined Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of fully electronic television, in his new research operations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[2] To assist with his hearing – by now very poor – Eddy developed a miniature electronic set driving a vibrating element that was contained within an unlit pipe.
Although there were only a few hundred television receivers in the area, Eddy inaugurated many technical and programming innovations, including the use of a remote unit with a high-frequency link to telecast live sports events.
On December 7, 1941, when Eddy heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he took a night train from Chicago to Washington, D.C., intent on returning to active duty as a Navy officer.
A small ad hoc group was already immersed in searching for solutions to the crisis in training issue – radar was on the way into the fleet, and there was only a handful of personnel with any knowledge of its maintenance.
The Secondary, involving advanced topics (such as microwave theory) and secret-level laboratory experience on radar and related equipment, was at three highly secure Navy facilities: one at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.; a similar facility on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay; and the third (for airborne systems) at Ward Island near the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.
[7] The ETP was initiated on January 12, 1942, in a prototype Primary School using the facilities of W9XBK on the top floors of the State-Lake Theater Building on the Loop in downtown Chicago.
[11] An article in the IEEE Spectrum, a leading electrical engineering magazine, heralded these accomplishments, crediting Eddy with a major contribution to the post-war educational boom in this field.
In addition to continuing with his technical and production innovations, Eddy initiated many highly popular programs, including Junior Jamboree (puppeteers, later becoming Kukla, Fran and Ollie), the Chicago Zoo with Marlin Perkins (later Wild Kingdom), news with Hugh Downs, and the first live broadcasts of many sports: baseball (Chicago Cubs remote from Wrigley Field), college football (University of Notre Dame remote from South Bend), boxing, wrestling, and golf.
This activity grew into a four-aircraft service, mapping profiles along 25,000 route-miles all over the world, including a 3,000-mile track through Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.
[16] In 1961, Television Associates was acquired by Westinghouse Air Brake Company and merged with its subsidiary Melpar, one of the most prominent technology firms of that time.
In retirement, he continued as an accomplished cartoonist and visual artist, winning awards for his oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, stained glass creations, and computer-generated art.
