Eugene Wallingford is an American university
professor and computer programmer who is not notable enough
for a Wikipedia article. One might argue that he is
not notable enough for this article, either.
Early Life
#
Wallingford was born in
Indianapolis,
Indiana,
and grew up there and in nearby
Greenfield.
Like most Hoosiers, he grew up loving basketball. Unfortunately,
his skills for playing the game did not match his affection.
From the age of eight, Wallingford wanted to be architect.
In high school, he studied architectural drafting in addition
to his academic courses, which included a course in
BASIC programming.
That year he wrote a program to implement the
Elo rating system
for his school's chess club. That was his first computer
program that really mattered.
Education
#
Wallingford studied Computer Science and Accounting at
Ball State University,
the alma mater of
David Letterman.
He began his studies as an architecture major but realized
in his first year that preferred the grunt work of computer
science to the grunt work of architecture.
After graduation, Wallingford attended
Michigan State University,
where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science.
He once met Spartans' head men's basketball coach
Jud Heathcoate
after standing in line overnight with a group of rabid fans to
buy student season tickets. Heathcoate thanked the crowd but
joked that he himself wouldn't have waited that long for
tickets to see the team.
Career
#
Wallingford joined the faculty of the
University of Northern Iowa
as a member of the newly-created Department of Computer Science.
A strange set of circumstances led to him being named head of
the department in 2005, a position he holds, surprisingly, to
this day.
On UNI's campus, Wallingford is recognized as the professor
who wears shorts most of the year. Many UNI deans, provosts,
and presidents have learned to live with this fashion choice.
Wallingford began his career as a researcher in artificial
intelligence before moving into object-oriented programming,
software design, and design patterns. Given the rapid
advances of AI in the 2020s, it appears that he was thirty
years ahead of his time, or twenty years behind.
In 2004, Wallingford appeared as an invited speaker at
the SugarLoafPLoP in Brazil. His two talks were only part
of his legacy at the conference; see
below.
His most significant achievement as conference organizer was
securing 2003
Turing Award
winner
Alan Kay
as the keynote speaker for the
2004 OOPSLA Educators' Symposium.
This achievement was the combined result of an uncharacteristic
moment of boldness from Wallingford, a huge stroke of good luck,
and the great generosity of Dr. Kay.
Notable Accomplishments
#
College Bowl national tournament
Wallingford played in
the 1989 College Bowl national championship tournament
as a member of the Michigan State University team that qualified
for the tournament as a wildcard entry. The 1989 Michigan State
team is believed by many to be the first team ever eliminated
from national championship competition by going
backwards with an incorrect answer
in sudden death overtime.
Early web pages at UNI
Wallingford was among first creators of web pages at UNI.
His personal homepage
is almost certainly the longest continually existing web page
at UNI, having been created in October 1994. He is also the
author of the pages believed to be the oldest pages on the
UNI web the longest in their current form: a set of pages of
UNI basketball statistics,
some of which were last edited in February 1995. See, for example,
1987-1988 Team Statistics.
Riding Insano
While at a conference in Brazil in 2004, Wallingford rode
Insano
(image),
a water slide at
Beach Park,
in Fortaleza, Brazil. At the time, Insano was recognized by
the Guiness Book of World Records as the tallest waterslide
in the world: 134.5 feet, or nearly 12-1/2 stories.
Insano is still recognized as the fastest waterslide in the
world, with riders reaching approximately 65mph.
In honor of his four daring descents, a colleague gave Wallingford
a t-shirt with the slogan
"Eu sobrevivi ... El Insano"
("I survived!" in Portugese).
Long Distance Running
Wallingford ran seven marathons between 2003 and 2010:
Chicago (2003), Des Moines (2004, 2010), Twin Cities (2005-2006),
Marine Corps (2007), Mason City (2009).
He ran his fastest time at Des Moines 2004, though his best
performance graded by course difficulty was the Marine Corps
Marathon. That race remains
one of his fondest memories.
In the Theater
In 2007, appeared in a local production of
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
as Mr. Bradley, the father.
He joined a cast that included his two daughters. This was
Wallingford's first appearance on stage since a grade school
performance of
Jesus Christ, Superstar,
in which he appeared as one of the apostles. "Superstar"
was the only time Wallingford performed publicly as a singer.
Reviews of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" were good,
but Wallingford has never been asked to return to the stage.
(He notes, though, that he has never been asked not to
return to the stage, either.)
Personal Life
#
Wallingford lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with his wife.
Their two children are grown,
leaving his home roomier but much less lively.
He and his wife can be seen riding their bikes and walking
an extreme number of miles year 'round, regardless of Iowa's
sometimes extreme weather.
Some students say Wallingford is not perfect.
[citation needed]
