Frank Langton "Chris" 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 games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, 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 (appro ...

, Christensen played fullback at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. "Crashing Chris" was the university's first three-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. 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 Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

. The fullback was honored as a Silver Anniversary

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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

. 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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

(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, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

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

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company is an American global energy technology company co-headquartered in Houston, Texas and London, UK. As one of the world's largest oil field services, industrial and energy technology companies, it provides products and serv ...

, 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

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