He got out of sports to be a poll vaulter.

• Position: GrassRoots Research Pres Scott Rasmussen

Scott Rasmussen has done a lot in his 40 years. Before turning 30, the president of Charlotte-based GrassRoots Research Inc. helped start ESPN cable sports network. He wrote a book, Solving the Budget Crisis: Hope for America's Future, while earning a belated bachelor's degree in history at DePauw University. Then he got an executive M.B.A. from Wake Forest.

Not everything worked out to plan. A knee injury kept him from playing minor-league hockey. But that's what led to ESPN. He became an announcer for the Hartford Whalers in the late '70s, doing stadium and radio work. The team couldn't get the games televised, so they turned to cable TV.

They pitched the Whalers, University of Connecticut basketball and minor-league baseball. But local cable operators only swung at UConn, airing 18 games, which caught national attention. Backed by Getty Oil, the Entertainment Sports Programming Network premiered officially with SportsCenter in 1979.

When Texaco acquired Getty in 1984, it bought out the 15% stake held by Rasmussen, his father and seven other investors, then sold ESPN to ABC for $237 million. "ESPN happened when I was very young," he says, "and I'm proud of it. But like playing high-school hockey, it's all part of my past." He moved to Charlotte in 1986. He worked with his father...