History of radio upon the idea of grounding his transmitter and receiver. With these improvements the system was capable of transmitting signals up to and over hills. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful radio transmission system. Marconi's apparatus is also credited with saving the 700 people who survived the tragic "Titanic" disaster. In 1896, Marconi was awarded British patent 12039, "Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for", the first patent ever issued for a Hertzian wave (radio wave) base wireless telegraphic system. In 1897, he established a radio station on the Isle of Wight,
Jimmy Needles Needles also coached Saint Ignatius' football team during this period, leading them to a runner-up spot in the 1928 Far Western Regionals. Illness forced Needles to resign from Saint Ignatius College in 1932, but he began coaching Amateur Athletic Union basketball soon afterwards. Needles coached the Universal Pictures team to the AAU championship, and as a result, he was appointed as coach of the first U.S. Olympic basketball team, which competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Following the Berlin Olympics, Needles returned to the college ranks, this time at Loyola of Los Angeles, where he mentored future