Slice of MIT's Anthology of Sports

The number of MIT alumni involved in professional sports grows each year. Thanks to these alumni, plus events like the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC), which begins today, the Institute's imprint on the sports landscape is increasing.

To celebrate this growing connection, the Alumni Association has spotlighted alumni working in sports fields all week. The sports-themed week was highlighted by a Twitter chat on Tuesday, Feb. 24 that featured Jyoti Agarwal ’03, a senior director at the NBA; Brian Bilello ’97, New England Revolution president; and Mike Fitzgerald ’11, Pittsburgh Pirates quantitative analyst.

To culminate the week, scan Slice's archive of more than 50 sports-related stories below. As you'll read, the Slice archives feature some surprising MIT connections in some offbeat athletics, including tug of war, ballroom dancing, weightlifting, and even professional wrestling.

 

 

 

 

 

Analytics

• “Data Driven: The MIT-Infused Rise of Sports Analytics”
• “Concussion Sensor Aims for Early Detection”
• “Through Math, Alum Helps Determine College Football Championship”
• “The Influence of MIT: Dispatches from the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference”
• “The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, a.k.a. ‘Dorkapalooza’”

Auto Racing

• “At 100, Bill Milliken Officially a Legend”

Ballroom Dancing

• “Celebrating 40 Years of Ballroom Dancing at MIT”

Baseball

• “From MIT Gridiron to MLB Playoffs”
• “MIT Alumnus Named General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers”

Basketball

• “Karen Kinnaman ’06: A Hero Among Us”
• “Prepare for the Final Four: An MIT Basketball Primer”
• “When Linsanity Reigned Over MIT”
• “Traveling the World in Search of Basketball”
• “Number Heaven: Capturing Four Million Seconds of NBA Hoops”

Cheerleading

• “MIT Cheerleading to Compete for National Championship”
• “Engineer brings ‘accomplish anything’ mind-set to NFL cheerleading”

Cricket

• “MIT Cricket Club: On Fire on Astroturf”

Football

• “Prepare for the Playoffs: An MIT Football Primer”
• “From Cancelled to Champions: The Strange History of MIT Football”
• “Can Better Helmets Make Football Safer?”
• “Alumna to Compete for a Shot in the NFL”
• “Turning Football, Video Games into a Career”
• “Always Moving Forward”

Golf

• “What is the Impact of Follow-Through in Golf?”

Hockey

• “MIT Sloan Grad Leads NHL Sustainability Efforts”
• “Hockey Stick Furniture Gets Functional”

Martial Arts

• “World Games: MIT Sport Taekwondo Club Earns High Marks”

Professional Wrestling

• “Recalling the Link between Pro Wrestling and MIT”

Rowing and Sailing

• “Coach, Trailblazer Linda Muri Leads MIT’s Boathouse Renewal”
• “Alumna Makes Splash Coaching Men’s Crew”
• “X Meets Next in Odds-Defying Summer Encounter”

Running

• “Running MIT Strong—for 24.8 Kilosmoots”
• “Meet the Runners of MIT Strong”
• “Alumna Runs Marathons in 50 States and D.C., Sets Record!”
• “Alumnus Completes 27th Ultramarathon”

Skydiving

• "Sloan Alumna Helps Break World Skydiving Record for a Good Cause"

Tug of War

• “Tug-of-War Victory over Harvard, 1887: Was This MIT’s Greatest Unknown Athletic Feat?”

Olympics

• “10 Questions with an MIT Alumnus Olympian: Alexis Photiades ’91, SM ’92”
• “10 Questions with an MIT Alumnus Olympian: Patrick Antaki ’84”
• “By the Numbers: MIT Alumni Olympians”
• “Alumnus Personifies Paralympic Spirit”
• “MIT Alumni in the Olympics: A Brief History”
• “Class of ’40 Alumnus Wins at Senior Olympics”

Weightlifting

• “Applying Engineering to the Weightlifting World”
• “Student Weightlifter Eyes Spot on Olympic Team”

More Sports Stories

• “The All-Around Success of MIT Athletics”
• “Gaining STE@M in Sports Technology”
• “The Golden Age of MIT Athletics”
• “From a Pig’s Bladder to Composite Microfiber: The Evolution of Sports Equipment”

Have we missed any MIT-related sports connections? Let us now in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.