Stereotypically, brains and brawn are often seen as mutually
exclusive attributes; however, certain college professors didn’t read
the rulebook. Instead of arguing over whether the pen is mightier than
the sword, they picked up both and cycled, surfed or skated off with
them. It may be an unlikely list, but that’s what makes it all the more
fascinating. Read on for ten extreme sports-loving professors.
10. Francis Slakey – Mountain Climbing and Surfing
Georgetown University lecturer and physicist Francis Slakey is a
full-blown adrenaline junkie. In 1997 he set out on an incredible
12-year journey that saw him become the first individual ever to reach
the top of the highest single mountain on every continent and surf all
of the world’s oceans as well. In 1992 Slakey obtained his Ph.D. from
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and then in 2007 he
founded Georgetown’s program on science in the public interest. More
recently, in 2012, he published
To the Last Breath: A Memoir of Going to Extremes,
about his danger-fraught but ultimately life-changing mission. “Most
decisions we make on a typical day are absolutely inconsequential,” he
has said. “What I’ve faced over the years in climbing have been really
significant moments that aren’t just a physical test – they are also
mental and spiritual, and they are significant and transformative.”
9. Jim Wahl – BMX Riding
Jim Wahl is an oral biology and biochemistry professor at the
University of Nebraska. He’s also a BMX fanatic known as “Papa Wahl” by
the other – younger – riders. Wahl started riding when he was nine. “I
just never found anything more interesting to do,” he has explained.
Then at the age of 18 he dreamed of making a career out of his love of
all things BMX. “I was ready to be a pro racer. I was going to move to
California, make a living at it,” he said. Instead, though, Wahl read
cell biology at the University of Toledo in Ohio. He received his
bachelor’s degree in 1993 and completed his Ph.D. in 2000. Since 2003
he’s been teaching at the University of Nebraska, and together with his
sons he still races whenever he gets the chance.
8. Jeff Cain – Spartan Racing
University of Kentucky pharmacy management professor Jeff Cain is a
thrillseeker who competes in grueling Spartan races around the U.S. Cain
studied at the University of Kentucky, earning himself a B.B.A, an
M.S.E., and eventually a doctor of education degree in 2007. Currently,
he in addition serves as the education technology director of the
university’s pharmacy college and also conducts scientific research. In
2012 Cain won the first Louisville, Kentucky Stampede competition, and
he retained his title in 2013. Cain describes himself as “a former
non-runner turned competitive obstacle racer” and maintains his own
obstacle course racing blog, On My Way to Sparta. He started the blog to
document his preparation for the 2012 Spartan Race in Vermont and keeps
it going to educate and inspire “those on their own quest to achieve
excellence.”
7. Hugh Herr – Rock Climbing
Biophysicist and rock climber Hugh Herr is a truly inspirational
character. During a 1982 climbing trip, he and another climber got
trapped in a heavy snowstorm on Mount Washington, and Herr ended up
having to have both of his legs below the knees surgically removed as a
result of frostbite. After his accident, Herr took to studying,
obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in mechanical
engineering, before eventually earning his Ph.D. in biophysics at
Harvard in 1998. He is now an award-winning biomechatronics professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his work focuses on
creating incredibly advanced, life-changing prosthetic devices. Using
his own specialized inventions, Herr even picked up his climbing career –
and got back to just as high a level as he was at before his
amputations. In 2011
TIME included Herr on its list of innovative Game Changers, describing him as the “Leader of the Bionic Age.”
6. Thomas Iliffe – Cave Diving
A professor of marine biology at Texas A&M University at
Galveston, Thomas Iliffe is also famous around the world as a cave diver
– and furthermore he has found around 200 new species. Iliffe earned
his master’s degree from Florida State University in 1973, following it
up with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas in 1977. In 1989 he joined
the faculty of Texas A&M University at Galveston. And in November
2013 he was made a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Museum of Natural History. Iliffe is an expert on the
evolution, biological diversity and conservation of cave-dwelling marine
life, and he has won several awards during his prestigious career,
including a 2013 National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section
Exploration Award.
5. Yung Tae Kim – Skateboarding
Yung Tae Kim is a self-described “skateboarding physicist,”
“educator” and “digital artist” based in California. Yung got into
skateboarding as a teenager growing up in Atlanta. He attained his
bachelor’s degree in physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and
went on to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. Yung has been a staff member at Northwestern
University, DePaul University and Lake Forest College, and at present he
holds an advisory post at Puget Sound Community School. Fed up with
traditional education methods, Yung moved on to devise online series
“The Physics of Skateboarding,” which helps skaters consider the science
behind their much-loved sport. In 2010 Yung worked on sports video game
Tony Hawk: Shred. And in 2011 he gave a TED talk entitled “Can
Skateboarding Save Our Schools?” “There are no grades,” he explained.
“The goal in skateboarding is to learn the trick. The reward… is landing
the trick.”
4. Kurt Refsnider – Mountain Biking
When he’s not lecturing at Prescott College in Arizona or researching
glaciers in the Rockies or Arctic, geologist, adventurer and mountain
biking enthusiast Kurt Refsnider takes part in extreme endurance races
across North America. In 2011 Refsnider won “self-supported” ultra event
the Tour Divide, which follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route
stretching 2,745 miles from Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New
Mexico. Impressively, he is also the current record holder in the
300-mile and 750-mile Arizona Trail races as well as being a board
member of the Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance. Refsnider attained his
Ph.D. in geology from the University of Colorado in 2011 and then joined
the staff at Prescott, where he specializes in Earth science. Mixing
business and pleasure, perhaps, his courses include one titled “Geology
through Bikepacking.”
3. Paul-Marie Cathelinais – Skimboarding
Paul-Marie Cathelinais is a Dominican priest, philosophy professor
and skimboarding enthusiast. When he’s not surfing the shallower parts
of the Cap-Ferret headland in the French region of Gironde, Father
Cathelinais can be found at Bordeaux’s St. Paul Monastery. He describes
Cap Ferret as “one of the most beautiful places in France” and uses the
escape as something almost like a form of meditation. Cathelinais – who
studied at IPC – Facultés Libres de Philosophie et de Psychologie in
Paris – initially quit skimboarding after he joined the monastery.
However, he later picked up the sport once more to break up the monotony
of everyday monastery existence. Reportedly, Cathelinais has the full
support of his church and is even attempting to reach out to sponsors.
2. Sarah Gerhardt – Surfing
In 1999, 25-year-old Sarah Gerhardt became the first female surfer to
brave notorious Californian big wave spot Mavericks. At the time,
Gerhardt was working towards her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the
University of California at Santa Cruz. Gerhardt’s inspirational tale
was told in 2006 documentary
One Winter Story. “I liked riding
bigger and bigger waves, so I started looking for them and went to
Hawaii to ride them. When I heard about Mavericks I knew that I wanted
to surf there,” she has explained. Gerhardt completed her Ph.D. in 2003
and now lectures in chemistry at Monterey Peninsula College and Cabrillo
College in California. And when she’s not teaching or looking after her
children, Gerhardt still occasionally takes on Mavericks, with its
25-foot waves, as well as surfing locally in Santa Cruz.
1. Tom Winter – Skateboarding
Silver-haired University of Nebraska classics and religious studies
professor Tom Winter turned into an online sensation in 2012 when photos
of the 68-year-old skateboarding his way to lectures surfaced on social
news site Reddit. “Nine pages of memes and a site I never knew about
before yesterday,” he said. “It’s a pretty good photo.” Winter has been
skateboarding on campus since 1993, but he only became famous almost 20
years later when a student snapped a photo of the unlikely skater and
posted it. “When I starting teaching here in 1970, faculty didn’t get
free parking,” Winter explained. He therefore decided that it would be
better to park elsewhere, toss a bicycle and later a board in the trunk,
and take an alternative route to class. In September 2012 Winter
declared that he was retiring. “Stay active. It’s good for you,” he has
said
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