Brock Strom
Born: (1934-09-21) September 21, 1934
Munising, Michigan
Career information
Position(s)T
CollegeAir Force

Brock Strom (born September 21, 1934) is a former American football player, Rhodes scholar, Air Force officer, and engineer.

He was head of engineering for NAVSTAR GPS satellite program at the USAF Space & Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO), precursor to the Space Command and Space Force.

Biography

Strom was born in Munising, Michigan.[1]

Strom was a member of the first graduating class of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in 1959.  He was captain of the undefeated 1958 football team, and became the Academy's first All-American.  He gained the honor when players played offense and defense and just 11 were selected. Strom played tackle on the offensive and defensive lines.[2][3]

He earned an M.S. from MIT in 1961,[4][5] and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 1971.[6]

He flew 90 missions as a navigator in Vietnam, and was decorated with two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars, and three Air Medals.[7][8]

As a lieutenant colonel, he became Director of Engineering in the GPS Joint Program Office.[9][10][11]

After retiring from the Air Force as a colonel, he joined Burlington Northern Railroad as the director of the Advanced Railroad Electronics System (ARES), which used GPS for positive train control.[12][13]  He became Vice President, Information Systems Services, at Burlington Northern Railroad in April 1988.[14]

References

  1. "Munising, Michigan". City-Data.com. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  2. "First AFA All-American". The Denver Post. 2006-09-10. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  3. "Brock Strom (1985) - Hall of Fame". National Football Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  4. Thomson, Laurence J (1961). An investigation of the effects of concentrated loads and moments on a thin paraboloidal shell of revolution (Thesis). OCLC 10915180.
  5. "Ironwood Daily Globe from Ironwood, Michigan on June 22, 1961 · Page 16". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  6. Strom, Brock Tourville (1971). Vibration of plane curved beams (Thesis). OCLC 12729535.
  7. "Brock Strom part of inaugural Hall of Fame class at Air Force". Air Force Academy Athletics. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  8. "Inductee | Brock Tourville Strom 1985 | College Football Hall of Fame". www.cfbhall.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  9. "Part 1: The Origins of GPS, and the Pioneers Who Launched the System". GPS World. 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  10. "Part 2: The Origins of GPS, Fighting to Survive". GPS World. 2010-06-01. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  11. O'Brien, Patrick J.; Griffin, John M. (2007-10-04). "Appendix 6, GPS JPO Organization Chart". Global Positioning System Systems Engineering Case Study. p. 124. Archived from the original on November 18, 2019.
  12. Tribune, Bob Wiedrich, Chicago. "SATELLITES SIGNAL A NEW ADVANCE IN KEEPING TRACK OF TRAIN TRAFFIC". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Tribune, Bob Wiedrich, Chicago. "WITH HELP FROM ABOVE, TRAINS ON SAFE TRACK". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. CIO Magazine. August 1988.


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