Elaine Iba

In her journey from science to softball to skeleton sleds, Elaine Masako Iba (MSEE ’88) decided early on that “Carpe diem!” would be her lifelong motto. Now in her early 40s, Iba complements her cerebral engineering skills with competitive athletic talents that might make Annika Sorenstam (the Swedish golfer who will become the first woman in 45 years to play in a PGA tour event) blush. She holds two American track and field records, and was recently selected as a member of the USA Skeleton National Team.

Iba is a third-generation Japanese- American who grew up in Downey, California. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a Trojan fan,” she says. “My father, Shozo Iba, received his BS in Biology and his MS in Microbiology in 1940 and 1941 from USC . He and his parents lived in a house on 36th Place near Normandie.When I was growing up and we’d drive into Los Angeles to see my grandmother, I’d always ask Dad if we could swing by USC to see the Tommy Trojan statue.”

In the 1970s, the family held season tickets to USC football games, so Iba went to see Pat Haden, Anthony Davis and other Trojan greats play. Two of Iba’s older sisters decided to attend USC: Nadine Iba received her bachelors and masters degrees in physical therapy, and Lynn Iba graduated from the School of Law.

Elaine Iba’s route to a USC degree was more circuitous. She enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, where she enjoyed her classes in mathematics, physics and chemistry. A friend majoring in civil engineering steered her toward electrical engineering. Active in extracurricular activities, including Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu,Mortar Board and Golden Key, Iba also was selected for the women’s intercollegiate softball team, but stopped playing after she damaged her knee during a sorority football scrimmage.

Iba worked part-time as a student engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, and was offered a full-time position when she graduated from CSULB with a BSEE in 1983. She eagerly seized the opportunity to apply for a Hughes fellowship that allowed her time off from work to attend USC engineering courses via a satellite link to the Hughes site in Fullerton. “I drove to USC to register and take tests, but the bulk of the courses were completed via satellite,” she says. “This enabled me to get a quality education from a top-notch engineering university—while avoiding the commute from Orange County to Los Angeles.”

Elaine Iba with the tiny skeleton sled that carries her at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour

Always looking for new challenges, Iba eventually left Hughes in 1996 to work for Silicon Systems Inc., which was purchased by Texas Instruments that same year. She also, at the age of 34, began competing in Masters track and field meets. “Participating in Masters track and field really opened doors for me,” she says. “The pinnacle of my Masters experience was when I was invited to run an exhibition race at the 2000 U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials. What an experience, to race in front of 20,000 spectators!”

While she was at the Olympic Trials, Iba noticed a flyer publicizing tryouts for a bobsled brakeman for the former USA Luge Olympian, Bonnie Warner. “I decided to go,” Iba says, “because how many times do you get the opportunity to try out for a bobsled team?” Warner suggested that Iba’s size made her more suitable for skeleton—a sport where athletes race face-first downhill at 80 miles an hour, on a three-foot-long sled, with their faces and toes mere inches above the ice.

Once again, Iba decided to “seize the day.” She flew to the Olympic Training Center at Lake Placid, New York even though she didn’t know what a skeleton sled looked like. “I thought I’d regret it if I didn’t go,” she admits. After a brief training period, Iba placed fourteenth - not quite good enough to make the team, but enough to encourage her to keep trying.

Since those exhilarating days, Iba has suffered two serious blows: First, she lost her job when Texas Instruments closed its Tustin facility in 2001, and her father recently passed away after an unexpected illness, just as Iba was flying to Germany to compete in the Europa Cup. But life must go on, and so Iba continues to look for work, while training and competing whenever she can. She placed eighth in the USA Skeleton National Team selection races last November, and 13th in the U.S. Championships this March.“My husband, Randy Messenger, has been wonderful in supporting all my activities,” she says. “Now, I’d love to find an employer who’d allow me a flexible work schedule in the winter, and perhaps even help sponsor me!”

Who knows – with Elaine Iba’s enthusiasm and talents, perhaps she will.