David W. Crain

David W. Crain (born 1946) is an American engineer who is known for conceiving and patenting the "1st and Ten" graphical overlay system used in sports television broadcasts.

Early life and education Crain was born in 1946 in California. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics (1968), a Master of Science in materials science (1971), and a Ph.D. in materials science (1976) from the University of Southern California (USC). His 1976 paper, titled "Charge Centroid and Trapping Model for MNOS Structures" builds a physical model that explains how and where electrons get trapped inside metal nitride oxide silicon (MNOS) non‑volatile memory devices.

Career Crain began his career by joining the United States Naval Oceans System Command in 1968 in San Diego, California, where he worked on the development of microelectronics for anti-submarine warfare systems.

Crain transitioned to Sempra in 1976 where he rose to Director of Corporate Strategy and later joined Fluor Corporation in 1996 as Director of Markets and Strategies. In 1999, he co-founded the Association for Strategic Planning and served as its president.

Crain has served as a professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, Cal Poly Pomona, and the University of Southern California. At the time, the broadcast industry was not ready to use Crain's invention. ABC producers told Crain, “To superimpose graphics over a live play is taboo at ABC and probably in the broadcast industry. Have you ever been in an NFL sound truck during a live telecast? It is sheer chaos in there and we don’t need some computer brought in to add confusion. Too much cost, too much equipment, too many cameras, for something that may be only used 4 times a game." It is now widely used in network sports broadcasts of all types and is considered the foundation technology for augmented reality (AR) video applications. Table 1 below lists the top 31 patents issued between 1978 and 2019 that reference Crain’s original invention.