Frank Langton Christensen (June 1, 1910 – September 6, 2001) was an American athlete. After receiving all-state honors at Granite High School in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, Christensen played

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. "Crashing Chris" was the university's first three-time All-American. In 1930–31, he was named Third-team All-American, and in 1932 he earned First-team honors. During those years, the Utes owned a 21-3-1 record. Christensen holds the school's all-time career-scoring mark with 235 points. He is second in individual points in a season, scoring 100 points in 1930. Christensen is credited with scoring 13 points in 13 seconds vs. Colorado College. The fullback was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

and was honored as a Silver Anniversary All-American in

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

. Christensen went on to the pros with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

(1934–37), where he was a member of the 1935 World Championship team. Christensen was also successful in business. He helped revolutionize the mining and

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

and is recognized as the driving force behind the introduction of diamond drill bits into the petroleum exploration industry. Originally, the company manufactured diamond drill bits for the western mining industry, but the founders quickly envisioned a strong market in petroleum. By 1946, Christensen diamond bits were introduced into the Rangley field of Colorado. The bits were so successful the company decided to make petroleum drilling its primary market. His company, ''Christensen Diamond Products Company'', became the world's largest producer of industrial diamond products. By the 1960s, the company was expanding into international markets. Christensen also developed an erosion-resistant matrix for diamond bits and introduced the 250P-core barrel system that quickly became the industry standard. In the 1970s, downhole tools and motors formed the basis for a broader drilling package that included the Navi-Drill downhole motor. Later in the decade, Christensen Diamond Products introduced the synthetic polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit. In 1978, Christensen Diamond Products was acquired by Norton Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1983 the company's name was changed to Norton Christensen. Norton Christensen merged with Eastman Whipstock, the world's largest

directional drilling Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional drilling, utility installation directional drilling, directional boring (horizontal dire ...

company, in 1986 to form Eastman Christensen. In 1990, Eastman Christensen was acquired by

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company, organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston, is one of the world's largest oil field services companies. The company provides products and services for oil well drilling, formation evaluation, completion, productio ...

, who subsequently merged the company with its Hughes Tool Company to form Hughes Christensen. Christensen died on September 6, 2001 at the age of 91.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Frank 1910 births 2001 deaths Players of American football from Salt Lake City Detroit Lions players Utah Utes football players