Claim to fame:
Figured out how to make free phone calls using a plastic prize whistle he found in a cereal box. Cap'n Crunch introduced generations of hackers to the glorious concept of phone "phreaking."

First encountered a computer:
As a teenager, trying to convince pay phones to return his coin and put through his calls.

Unusual tools:
The toy whistle from boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal. The whistle reproduced the 2600 hertz tone necessary to authorize a call. Used in conjunction with a bluebox, it allowed users to make free phone calls. (Oscar Meyer weiner whistles also briefly gained a following among phone phreakers.)

Little-known fact:
Honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1968 after a stint in Vietnam.