Inventor has roots in Jasper
Pittman, JHS '54, says coach, science teacher inspired career



Courtesy photo from Christian County Headliner / Kyle Wilson JOHN PITTMAN, Jasper High graduate and inventor of a new sports machine, is shown with son-in-law Mark Snowbarger who helped develop the Lateral Motion Simulator.

One Jasper high school graduate is still inventing new technologies at age 71 - John Pittman, brother of Jeanette Pittman, who serves at the Jasper Historic Commission.

Pittman graduated JHS in 1954 and later moved to Missouri where he completed a successful business career that would satisfy many folks, but he never stopped inventing.

With the help of son-in-law Mark Snowbarger, he invented, refined and patented the LMS (Lateral Motion Simulator), a tool for teaching and measuring defensive skills in basketball and other sports.

Pittman has ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and is confined to a wheelchair. It was while watching a basketball drill that Pittman realized there had to be a better way to practice. He sketched out a design on a paper napkin, and then enlisted his son-in-law and two more partners to create the LMS.

"Pittman's LMS system allows players and sometimes more importantly, coaches to hone lateral quickness," said reporter Kyle Wilson in the Christian County Headliner News.

Pittman's invention consists of a 12-foot bar with red and green lights. Red is the imaginary offense, green is the defensive player. Red moves across the bar randomly while green tries to cover the red light to prove his defense skill level.

The machine calculates the percentage of time he is successful, giving coaches an accurate assessment of the defensive player's improvement.

"This is a machine that makes defense fun," Pittman told the Headliner News. "Nothing is harder than playing defense and this is a way to get credit for it. Right now a college coach can call a high school coach and find out a player's free-throw percentage or vertical jump. They don't have a measurement for defense. With this system, any college coach can call any high school coach and find out what a player scored on LMS."

Pittman recalled two Jasper High teachers who were particular inspirations in his life, Coach Jordan and science teacher B.J. Ortschied.

Pittman, whose time is limited by his disease, says he is dedicating the rest of his life to promoting this machine. The website for his company is www.athletechsports. com.

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